October Children
by Ariza Luca
Summary: Jesse wanted to make a wish. Getting sucked into a demon dimension to fulfill that wish and getting stuck there wasn't really their intention, but here they are. Now it's time to solve a small mystery... namely, who... or what... is taking the keys to unleash an entire world's worth of negative energy? (T for triggers. See MA version on AO3.)
1. A Wish

"It's today, isn't it?"

He glances up at her with his lone red eye, brown hair shining in the dim, wavering light from the chandelier. A smile twitches across his lips. "Yep. Some humans might come today."

The blonde next to the girl with brown hair- her right eye covered with an eyepatch that you might expect a pirate to wear and not a nice young lady wearing some admittedly not-exactly-nice-looking clothing- glances at her.

Well, it can only be _assumed_ that he's glancing at her; the blindfold across his eyes makes it rather difficult to tell.

"I'm honestly wondering what kind of humans will come," the blonde admits, scratching his cheek slightly.

"If any. Aren't we the first ones for... like... twenty years?"

A bystander might look around in bemusement at the voice that emitted from seemingly nowhere before looking up at the ceiling.

The way the light is wavering dramatically across the brown-haired man's face is suddenly made clear as the bearded man hanging from the chandelier and swinging it back and forth crazily with his right eye covered with a patch that matches the girl's comes into view.

The brown-haired man smiles faintly and almost pleasantly.

Something about it seems too sinister to be really pleasant.

"Well, we'll see soon."

* * *

Jesse ekes the door open carefully, glancing into the living room, backpack already hiked up onto their small, thin back in case he needs to make a run for it.

Their head of (admittedly rather fluffy) dark hair is streaked with a bright color, and their eyes are a very markedly pretty shade of green, and their overalls over their too-big long-sleeved shirt doesn't really help the fact that they look like they're ten when they're, in fact, seven years older than that, but otherwise you really wouldn't glance at them twice.

When the snoring man with a beer bottle loosely hanging from his fingers on the couch doesn't stir beyond breathing, they shift the door open a little further, almost _barely_ enough for them to squeeze past but still a little too narrow if they want to avoid making sound.

" _You damn kid!"_

 _He swears at Jesse, throwing another bottle at them; they barely manage to duck before it shatters on the wall behind them, glass skittering across the floor from the impact. Jesse bites their lip to keep from crying out, tears building up behind their eyes, but they say nothing, do nothing, they don't dare do anything for fear of his rage hitting them._

 _"I'm- I'm sorry, Dad-"_

 _The man's eyes gleam viciously. "Don't call me that, you pathetic brat," he spits out, alcohol slurring his words and dragging them out, "you know nobody wanted you, huh? You know how much trouble you've caused me? I only did this as a favor for that damn orphanage caretaker bailing me out that one time."_

 _Jesse swallows tears, swallows any response they can make in response to that, shove down any anger or fear or rebellion in their eyes, shut down._

 _"Yes, sir."_

Still no movement. He really is passed out on the sofa at the moment.

Another eking of the door, halting just before the hinges hit the squeaky part, trying to avoid making any loud sounds. He doesn't so much as twitch.

 _A hand smacks across their face, Jesse flinching as heat floods into their cheek. They can smell that nasty, disgusting scent that they know means that the orphanage caretaker is currently completely_ stoned _. They try to avoid moving or shifting- so much as a shuffle of their feet can result in them getting screamed at._

 _"You talkin' back to me kid?"_

 _"No- no." Jesse doesn't even dare shake their head, heart beating so quickly it feels like a rabbit's._

 _A long silence stretches through the room, wending cold fingers into their shoulder, making it grow thicker and heavier and deeper until-_

 _The caretaker sneers, unfocused eyes staring right through them. "Get out of my sight."_

Soft, quick footsteps across carpeted floor, another door swinging open with a tiny click, before Jesse's latching the door behind them and pretty much _booking_ it down the street.

It isn't until they're halfway down the street that they breathe a sigh of relief.

Considering how late for school their dad- no, not their dad. Their legal guardian- can make them in the morning with his hangovers making an already dark mood even darker, they're glad they manage to escape the usual routine.

This thought is immediately interrupted by someone in sunglasses brushing past them in a run, almost knocking the much-shorter teenager over. When they glance back, they can see it's a man, holding what looks to be a woman's purse.

"Somebody stop him! He took my bag!"

Despite the fact that they're basically running back in the direction of their house, Jesse wheels on their heel without even halting and breaks into a run, hands releasing the straps of their backpack as they go from a casual walk to a near-sprint.

The man isn't exactly being cautious- ramming into people as he runs away from the girl shouting about her bag- but he seems to be making good ground.

Time to derail that plan.

Jesse's feet dig into the sidewalk for a moment before they suddenly shoot forward like a very baggy-shirt-wearing bullet, dodging and diving around people as their reflexes keep them from slamming full-force into people and then possibly knocking them over. In moments they have already covered enough ground to be five feet behind the man, before they tense their knees and launch themselves at him, allowing their heavy backpack to add quite a bit of force to the impact they're going to make with the man.

That impact is made not seconds later, the would-be thief yelping in alarm as Jesse collides heavily with his back and bowls him to the ground. The man faceplants, but Jesse senses the impact coming. The moment the man's close enough to the ground, Jesse launches themselves forward and rolls, allowing their forward momentum to bowl them forwards like a little bowling ball.

Their feet touch the ground, they pop back up, and they reach down and snag the purse from him just as the woman, completely out of breath, manages to catch up with them. "Here you go!" they chirp, and extend the purse to her.

The woman beams down at them and takes it. "Thank you so much, sweetheart."

The thief groans from where he's flat on his face.

Jesse beams back, even though the fact that they're only a door or two down from their house doesn't escape them and they feel the urgent, itching need to run twitching at their fingers. "No problem! I'd better get to school now. Try to be careful with your purse from now on."

"Alright. Thank you again!"

And off Jesse bolts for high school, dodging past people and weaving around them so that they don't just spectacularly crash into anybody.

* * *

 _Whew... I made it._

Jesse plops down in their chair, backpack falling to their feet as a relieved sigh puffs out of their mouth. _With time to spare, too_.

"Hey, there!"

Jesse looks up to see one of the popular kids beaming at them.

Which is weird. Usually the popular kids are all too happy to shove them around and tease them and mock them for being easily the shortest, smallest, most androgynous, thinnest person in the entire 11th grade.

But they give a little smile and a tiny wave, because the popular kid said hello, and it would be rude to not at least respond. "Hi."

"Soooo, you know that forest? Y'know- that one with, like, all the different types of trees and that weird clearing that _nobody_ goes to?" The popular kid asks, tilting her head so that dark brown curls shift in waterfalls down her shoulders.

A little nod. "Uh-huh... what about it?"

"Wellll, we've all been chatting-" The popular kid doesn't bother to explain, and Jesse doesn't need her to, that 'we' means the popular kids. "And we've found out that one of us have gone into that clearing, and that if you go inside, and say a wish out loud three times, it'll actually come true!"

Jesse frowns slightly. "... was your friend hallucinating or something? That doesn't sound very likely."

"No, silly, it's real!" She gives them a grin. "She was, like, _totally_ sober, and she went in and tried it, and it worked!"

Jesse gives a noncommittal hum at that.

"So, like, we were all thinking that we were going to head there after school and try it! You should come with- it'll be a ton of fun!" The popular kid gives Jesse a beaming, bright smile.

 _... a wish? I know I_ look _like a kid, but seriously? That sounds so childish._

Jesse pauses a moment later, feeling a strange longing creep into the pit of their stomach.

... _but... if I had a wish..._

" _Get out of my sight._ "

 _"Nobody wants you."_

" _I'm afraid we can't take this child; they're really too small and sickly-looking._ "

... _I'd wish for a family..._

The idea makes Jesse's heart ache a little bit. The idea of a wish being granted, and they wish for something for themselves _(even though it's something they desperately, desperately want, desire more than anything, want so, so, so_ badly)? Can they get any more selfish?

And yet...

Jesse sits there for a moment, before they glance up at the popular kid.

"What time are you guys plannin'?"

She beams at the fact that they seem to have accepted her offer. "Around four. You're free after school?"

"I... I think so..."

The popular girl's smile widens. "Great- we'll meet you there at the clearing since it takes a while to round everyone else up." She rolls her eyes. "The new class system is, like, _such_ b-s."

Jesse gives her a little nod and a tiny smile to return. "Okay."

She grins at them and pops back to her feet, giving them a clap on the back that makes them wince; there are some bruises there that haven't quite healed yet. " _Awesome_. I'll spot you after school, 'kay?" And before Jesse can respond, she's back with her group and sitting down, all of them reacting cheerfully as she reports back to them.

The moment Jesse glances away, though, her cheerful grin becomes a little more nasty. "I can't believe they _fell_ for that. What kinda dumb thing do you think they wish for? Normalcy?"

The guy next to her rolls his eyes. "I bet they're gonna wish for a new toy from Santa."

The entire group sniggers at that, before the curly-haired girl smirks. "Well, they'll be waiting for half an hour anyway, since they're just going to be there early. So y'know, they might even just think we stood 'em up after they end up waiting for three hours and we can embarrass the crap out of them."

"Not like we don't already do that," another popular guy mutters, more sniggers spreading through the group.

* * *

The backpack combined with their weight is really the only reason that the sounds of grass crunching beneath Jesse's feet can be heard as they tread into the clearing.

They're glad they were able to scrounge up enough money to buy themselves a cherry soda _(which_ should _help tide them over if their legal guardian doesn't make dinner, which is almost a hundred percent_ certainty); but actually managing to purchase the cherry soda, head back in the direction of the forest, and find the path to the clearing is stupidly contrived enough that it's nearly 3:55 by the time Jesse gets there.

They set their backpack down, feeling glad that the relatively heavy thing is no longer digging into their shoulders, and glancing around. The sun is already beginning to set, being winter, and the golden light causes the trees to cast shadows that are long and almost a little eerie.

Jesse stands there for a moment, quietly, before huffing a weak laugh.

What are they _doing_ here? They _did_ come all the way here, mostly because they'd already said yes to the popular girl, but _really?_ They're going to be doing something like _this_? Believing in magic and wishes was so silly. It was better to just head back to their house.

 _... although... it would be nice if my wish would come true._

Jesse shakes their head at the silliness of that idea ( _and how very, very selfish it is_ ) and turns to pick up their backpack and leave.

Fingers snare their wrist.

Jesse's eyes flicker backwards to the gloved hand grabbing them by the wrist, to the leather-jacket-like sleeve on the arm that was holding them, to... nothing.

The arm was connected to absolutely nothing.

Jesse opens their mouth to cry out, eyes wide-

 _A flash of pain as he hits them. Tears, a hit, a gasp or a cry or a whimper, a kick, even standing in a defensive position results in pain._

They bite their tongue instead.

They disappear in a flash of light, without so much as a sound.

Not even a minute passes before the murmur of voices sounds in the clearing, and the popular kids appear in the shadows of the trees, giggling and snickering and finding the idea of the possibility of a wish (or even just Jesse getting stood up) apparently rather hilarious.

At least, until the popular girl stops. "... are they not here?"

"No, look-" And one of them points at Jesse's discarded backpack, the little pig keychain dangling from it very obvious. "It's their stupid backpack."

A long, long pause as the popular kids all glance around at each other, an unsettling silence creeping over them.

Jesse's stuff is there. And it's not like Jesse would leave without their backpack. (They are literally almost the _only_ one in the grade who turns in their homework on time, neat, from a candy-colored folder that they keep in their backpack.)

So where are they?

* * *

The feeling of traveling through a curtain of heat isn't lost on Jesse before their feet step onto what feels like carpet, a firm set of hands on Jesse's shoulders and giving them a light squeeze. Jesse's eyes are squeezed shut, but they can feel the big hands gently ( _if firmly_ ) holding them and they're _pretty_ sure a guy is the one who's gripping them by the shoulders.

Jesse slowly, slowly blinks one eye open, to find themselves staring at a very pretty wooden door. They flicker around, showing what looks like the entrance to some kind of old-fashioned manor.

 _... what just happened? Where am I?_

"Ooh... look, Aiden!"

A voice that is _distinctly_ male sounds right in their ear, making Jesse flinch automatically from how close it is. "It's..." A short pause, before the hands spin them around to get a better look at them.

A male with dark brown (nearly black, actually) hair and a beard is blinking perplexedly at them with his left eye, the right one being covered with what looks like a pirate's eyepatch. His shirt is a dark red, black leather jacket with brown straps and metal shoulderpads gleaming in the dim light from the chandelier on the ceiling. One quick look downwards confirm that his pants and boots are also black.

But that's not what's making Jesse a tad nervous about the whole thing; no, plenty of people at school wear lots of black and red.

No, what makes Jesse really, really nervous is the fact that the boy's left iris is an unnatural, inhuman red.

"Well, honestly, I can't actually tell _what_ gender they are, but it's a kid!" And he grins at them before giving their hair an enthusiastic ruffle, making chills of fear shoot up Jesse's spine. "And they've got fluffy hair, too."

"Cut that out, Gill."

Jesse's eyes flicker to behind the bearded guy to see a white sofa with a guy seated on it. His hair looks windswept and almost spiky, left eye wrapped up completely in a bandage with his right eye shut. He's sipping something from a teacup.

Presumably tea.

His eyes flicker open as he lowers the cup a bit, revealing that his own iris is also bloodred.

"You're scaring them."

* * *

 **A/N: Heyo, guys, welcome to a revamp of this old story (formerly known as October Progeny) because I got new ideas and the old one kinda sucked anyway so... yeah.**

 **So, er, LONG time no see. Honestly, this isn't really marking the start of the return of regular updates or even... necessarily updating in general. I just rewatched October Children, came up with lots of ideas, and went "you know what screw it I'm rewriting this."**

 **Although I DO have another thing that's SUPER long and sort of a oneshot update coming up. So... look forward to that?**

 **I'm sorry I've been gone so long; college applications are a PAIN, to say the least. I'm still working on submitting a few final ones, so please be patient- I will still probably be out for a while in December but come back and re-establish some kind of schedule in January.**

 **Thank you, and I HOPE you like this revamp of October Children. The beginning several chapters are STILL based off of Klaziki's Maplestory series... "October Children", but there's going to be some MASSIVE changes.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	2. Midnight

'Aiden', apparently, shifts off of the couch. His own clothing is rather similar to 'Gill's'- a leather jacket with straps (although noticeably his shoulderpads actually have little spikes on them), black pants, silver metal kneepads... in fact, if it weren't for the fact that his shirt is white, and he also seems to have tiny red studs in his ears, and, hm, yeah, the bandage over his left eye is a pretty big difference, Aiden would look like he is wearing the exact same thing as Gill.

He gives the very-short Jesse a once-over, before his lips quirk up into a humorless smile. "Sorry. This is probably late, but please don't be alarmed. We're not planning to hurt you or anything like that."

He inclines his head politely at them, still smiling without any humor. "I'm Aiden, and the guy who dragged you in is Gill."

"Hey, Aiden," and Jesse looks up as a young, blonde man comes in. His clothing is also characterized by the metal shoulderplates, but unlike Gill and Aiden, he doesn't have a lot of straps- he just has one brown belt that holds a few pouches over his leather jacket and orange shirt. His metal-tipped boots go up to his knees, hiding most of his dark gray pants. "Did someone..."

He trails off upon spotting Jesse. Well, actually, _spotting_ is a relative term, because his eyes are hidden entirely by a red silky-looking blindfold. He cocks his head at them a moment later. "... taking that as a yes."

Aiden huffs, jerking his head at the blonde. His smile does soften a bit though, and Jesse _swears_ they can feel it warm up a bit. "And that guy's name is Lukas. Yours?"

And immediately, all three boys are looking at Jesse.

Well, they're guessing for Lukas, but still.

Jesse ducks their head, feeling their cheeks redden at the fact that all three of them are looking at Jesse, especially with inhumanly red eyes. What doesn't help is the fact that they feel like they're a ten-year-old being invited to hang out with a bunch of 17-or-18 year olds, since that's the way all three of them look. "I'm- I'm Jesse."

Gill cocks his head at them at that, red eye squinting up. "Sorry, what was that?"

"My name's Jesse," Jesse repeats their name a little louder, feeling their insides twist a little bit anxiously. Great, two seconds into this meeting (as weird as it is) and they're already too quiet for people to hear them. This is going to go as well as it usually does when they talk to other people.

Which is to say, not well at all.

Jesse's anxiety is cut off when a door swings open, revealing a young woman (a girl? She does look around Jesse's age as well).

Her clothing is (unsurprisingly) much the same as the other three, with a black leather jacket over a bright red shirt. She also has a pirate eye patch like Gill does (which makes Jesse wonder if they like pirates), and her straps are much fewer than Aiden's but a few more than Lukas has, dark brown boots coming to her knees and topping it off with a protective kneecap. She also has a red-gold pin keeping most of her light brown hair out of her face.

She yawns.

"Did someone just come, Aiden...?" Her voice trails off as she spots the fluffy-haired Jesse standing in between the three males, eyes widening.

And then her eyes shine with excitement, skipping forward until she's nearly face-to-face with Jesse, a huge, excited grin coming across her face. "Ohhhhh! They're so _cute_!"

Gill halfheartedly scowls at her, crossing his arms. "Oi, when'd you get here?"

Aiden completely ignores the question and gives Maya a perplexed smile. "Well, you're excited, Maya."

"Of course! This is _literally_ the first human to show up here in twenty years!"

Jesse blinks.

Twenty years? But... they all appear to be the same age as them.

Ah, wait, that's not the only odd thing.

 _Human_.

Meaning...

These four _weren't_ human?

Lukas hums, thumbing the corner of his mouth thoughtfully as he regards Jesse, completely ignoring the confused swirl of everything currently inside of them. (Seriously, is he _looking_ at them? He's wearing a blindfold.) "Hmm... that's true. Though I can't tell if they're a girl or a boy."

Jesse feels their cheeks redden, but before they can say anything, Gill chimes in. "That's not that bad, considering I can't tell if Maya's a girl or a boy either."

Maya's grin falls into a somewhat-playful glare, red eye almost sparking as she narrows her eyes at Gill. "Picking a fight, are we?"

"Heh, bring it on."

Annnnd now the two are chucking things at each other.

Jesse watches a vase full of flowers, a teacup, a chair, a _table_ , a bench, a painting, a candle, a candlestick holder, and a lamp fly past them from different angles before they timidly glance over at Lukas, who seems to be watching the interaction with mild amusement. "Um... should you guys stop 'em?"

Aiden shrugs and huffs a fond-sounding laugh, making Jesse swivel to look at him. "Ah... don't worry about them. They're usually like that."

He turns and gives Jesse another humorless smile. "Now, how about we have a cup of tea and a quick-"

Jesse reacts before they even really realize they're seeing a lamp fly at Aiden.

They grab his sleeve and yank him forward while also diving to the side, the momentum of both movements knocking them into a spin so that Jesse is where Aiden is and Aiden is where Jesse was moments before-

The lamp smacks into their back and knocks them flat on their face, back letting out a shriek of complaint as the lamp manages to hit about five of their bruises as they bite their tongue to keep themselves from crying out.

Maya and Gill _freeze_ as Lukas lets out a vehement exclamation and stoops down to check on them, Aiden blinking in shock at thin air before looking down at Jesse. "Holy _crap_ , are you okay?"

Jesse doesn't think they can say anything without sounding like they might cry or at least sound like they're in pain.

So instead they just raise their hand, without even lifting their face, and give them a thumbs' up.

Aiden grimaces and leans down to help Jesse up, literally picking them up (face momentarily changing as he realizes how light they are) and setting them on their feet. "Er... thanks."

"Mmhm..."

After confirming that Jesse is, in fact, mostly alright, Lukas gives a pleasant hum and turns on his heel to face Maya and Gill, who look absolutely stricken. "Which one of you two threw that?"

"He... help..." The two have given up completely on their fight and are now clinging to each other as Lukas slowly walks towards them.

* * *

A while after Lukas tugs Maya and Gill through a side door while Aiden takes Jesse to the sofa and gets them some tea (and a cookie as thanks), and after Lukas comes back in with a very scolded-puppy-looking Maya and Gill, and after they all sit on the sofa and the chairs and get situated, the blonde still shooting the occasional glance at the two- when, in short, some time has passed and Jesse's back has stopped aching, Jesse timidly speaks up.

"I, um... I should be heading back to my house now..." They don't know _how_ much time has passed, but it's certainly late enough that they're not going to be able to avoid their legal guardian, and maybe, _maybe_ if they go now, they'll escape the worst of it.

Aiden tilts his head, brow momentarily creasing at the way Jesse phrases that, before it clears back into a light look. "Oh? Well, I suppose I'll hurry and get to the point then."

His light look becomes outright business-like, brisk and no-nonsense. "What did you come here for? Is there something you desire?"

Jesse pauses, knowing that what they're about to say sounds childish and embarrassing and stupid besides.

But they say it anyway.

"Um... some... someone told me that if I came here, my wish would be granted..."

A long, long pause as the four of them look at them and Jesse blinks back.

" _Pff_ -"

The tiny puff of air through Aiden's lips is enough to set all four of them off, Gill toppling off his chair with a raucous cackle while Maya turns and starts slapping the back of hers, giggling all the while. Lukas covers his mouth with his hand, almost seeming to try to be nice about hiding it, while Aiden just outright laughs. He doesn't even bother to hide it.

Jesse feels the blood flush their cheeks as Maya gasps, "A- a wish? And you actually _believed_ that?"

"Oh- oh- oh-" Gill's laughter is so bad that he's almost literally rolling on the floor. "That's a new one! These humans are simply too much!"

Jesse looks down at their lap, feeling their face become incredibly hot.

They're _used_ to people laughing at them, of course, but... really, they were hoping this would be different.

"I... I know it's- I know it's dumb." Their voice is a tiny, tiny whisper. "You guys don't have to laugh so much."

Lukas lowers his hand, breathing catching in a soft chuckle. "Sorry, sorry, it's just-" Another huff of air comes out, and he dissolves back into soft laughter.

Their face feels like a little miniature oven now. Jesse covers their face to try to hide the fact that they're currently redder than Maya's shirt.

Maybe they shouldn't have said anything.

Aiden's chuckles subside a moment later, before he goes quiet, even as the other three continue chuckling. "Jesse? You alright?"

Jesse hastily lowers their hands, still feeling their face being about twenty degrees higher than the average human body. Judging by the way Maya's laughter dies and Lukas's fade and the way Gill slowly sits up, and the way Aiden's brow is furrowed, all of them notice as well.

"Y-yeah, it's- it's just embarrassing." And they give a weak little laugh.

There is a long, long moment where the four of them look at Jesse and Jesse looks at their knees, trying to ignore the fact that they're definitely the shade of the cherry soda they drank earlier today.

"Well, uh... we're done laughing now. What's your wish?" Lukas asks at last, his voice a little kinder now. Perhaps he realizes Jesse's now absolutely embarrassed out of their mind. Perhaps he can sense why exactly Jesse is a very nice shade of bright red.

Jesse opens their mouth to say it-

\- and then they pause.

 _How absolutely, absolutely selfish that the possibility of a wish coming true exists, and you want to use that wish to get something for yourself._

 _How very, very,_ very _selfish of you._

( _And how very much Jesse wants it._ )

"... it's... it's kind of stupid, honestly," Jesse gives a weak laugh, averting their eyes again. "It's definitely not something you guys would care about. I should just head home."

Another moment where the four of them are exchanging glances. Jesse can tell even though they're not looking at them that every red eye (and blindfold, in Lukas's case) has flickered to meet someone else's.

"Well, um... alright, then. If you're sure." Gill's voice has softened too.

Jesse gives a stiff, tiny nod in reply, not trusting their voice.

 _I should've expected this would be the same._

 _I should've expected that these people wouldn't be any different._

 _Why did I even expect that in the first place?_

 _Stupid, stupid child._

The atmosphere of the room has become very tense now. Aiden awkwardly clears his throat and looks at Maya. "Uh, well... Maya, what time is it?"

Maya twists around to look at the clock, Jesse also lifting their head to see the time.

The clock bell tolls once.

Twice.

Both hands are right on the twelve.

"WHAT?!" Jesse flinches as their head snaps around, hopping to their feet automatically as Maya jumps off the couch, eyes wide with shock as the clock bells continue tolling, three, four, five. "IT'S MIDNIGHT ALREADY?!"

Six.

Gill mutters a swear as Aiden thumbs the corner of his mouth again, brow furrowing. "This is bad... Lukas, get the door!"

Seven tolls, eight tolls, nine tolls.

"Already on it!"

Jesse's head snaps around to see Lukas already halfway down the hallway. They might've moved fast earlier this morning, but Lukas is moving at a speed that Jesse would've never found possible. _I didn't even see him move!_

Ten.

Lukas's hand lands on the doorknob, twisting it sharply and flinging the door open.

Eleven.

Jesse barely manages to catch a glimpse of the clearing, the moon high above it and illuminating the trees in a soft blue light, before it's disappearing as a black vortex practically sucks it away. Moments later, blinding white light flares out, a blast of wind tearing through the manor.

Twelve.

"Geh-" Lukas flinches and throws his arms' up, almost as if shielding himself from the light, blonde hair ruffling in the wind. Aiden tsks his tongue, also with one arm up in protection, his jacket fluttering in the wind.

For a moment, the world around Jesse fades away as their heartbeat fills their ears, drowning out the sound of the howling wind.

One beat.

Two beats.

Three beats.

The light fades a moment later, Lukas cautiously lowering his arms with an unhappy hum. "Didn't make it in time..."

Aiden strides forward briskly and grabs the front of Jesse's shirt, making them instantly flinch at the action, expecting him to hit them. His gaze changes, before it hardens again and he stares at Jesse intently, almost peering into their wide green eyes.

A few seconds pass before he releases them, gaze still hard.

"Their heart is gone."

* * *

 **A/N: Welp, that's another chapter done! Please let me know what you guys think. I'm pretty proud of how this improved since the old one.**

 **Also, please review. Reviews are great.**

 **But yeah... poor tiny Jesse. There's definitely some changes in here that are a bit... more interesting, I suppose.**

 **Also, I forgot to mention this in the first chapter, but there are possible triggers in this story, and I'm afraid to say there might be quite a few. If you've reached this point, _do not_ continue reading if you are uncomfortable with topics such as child abuse, violence, depression, or self-harm.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	3. Oh Lord

Jesse's (now technically nonexistent heart) skips a beat or two at that sentence.

"Wh... what? Doesn't..." Jesse swallows, twisting their (still-very-baggy) sleeve. "Doesn't that mean I should be dead?"

Aiden gives a curt nod. Which really doesn't do much to help the fact that their stomach is twisting uncomfortably, along with their sleeve. "Yeah. You would be dead."

His red eye flickers to Jesse, staring them down. "If we were in your world."

 _My world...?_

"But we're not in your world. That's why you're still alive."

He comes a little closer and gives their chest a poke, making Jesse shrink away from him a little bit. "As long as your heart exists somewhere in this world, even if it isn't in your body, you won't die."

Jesse would give a sigh of relief at this, but Aiden is already continuing to muse about this turn of events. "But... your heart will disappear eventually, which will lead to your death if we just leave things the way they are."

"... oh..." Jesse thumbs the corner of their mouth, considering the statement.

 _No one will miss you._

"I see..."

Lukas glances at them, lips turning down at the ends at Jesse's almost careless answer ( _and why should they really care anyway_ ), but before he can say anything or before Jesse can actually interpret the look they are speaking up, softly. "This... this all sounds sorta... fantastical."

Aiden shrugs at this. "You can say whatever you'd like, but what I just told you isn't a lie," he replies calmly.

"... I see... then... what am I going to do?" Jesse tilts their head back to make eye contact with the four teenagers _(or, well, the four people who look like_ _teenagers_ ). "I highly doubt you guys really want a corpse in here..."

Gill gives a slightly amused chuckle at Jesse's comment, crossing his arms. "It wouldn't be THAT weird, considering everything that happens here, but..."

Maya gives a displeased hum and elbows him, shooting him a glare. "Shut up; they're probably freaked out enough already as it is."

"Hey, they said it first."

Aiden punctuates the argument with a sigh before it can get more out of control, rubbing his hand down the side of his face in what seems like _utter_ frustration. "... guess there's no other choice."

"... no other choice for what?"

Aiden doesn't respond as he begins to stride down the hallway, hands in his jacket pockets. "C'mon. Don't just stand there. Let's go."

Jesse has to jog a few paces before they manage to catch up somewhat, Lukas falling in pace beside them while Gill and Maya fall into step behind them. They feel a little like they're getting arrested or something. "Go— go where?"

"... you'll see," comes Aiden's somewhat reluctant reply.

This doesn't help the way Jesse's stomach is twisting into a little knot.

* * *

The clouds above are dark, looking almost as though they are heavy with moisture, a contrast to the almost pleasant-looking buildings lining the streets. Some of the roofs are even a nice shade of green.

Jesse tilts their head up to look at the sky, before back at Aiden. "Are the clouds always like that, or is it about to rain?"

"They're always like that," Aiden replies almost dismissively. "When it rains, the clouds turn pitch black."

Jesse hums and tilts their head back down- and blinks at the sight of more people beginning to turn around from what they're doing, stop walking, even cut off mid-sentence to swivel their heads around to stare at the four.

This doesn't help Jesse's nerves. They don't handle crowds well. Especially when the crowd is looking at them. They feel like they've done something wrong.

Perhaps they have. They're not really supposed to be here.

One of the men on the side turn to face Jesse, a strange sort of sneer coming across his face as he surveys them. Upon seeing their wide green eyes, his grin widens and his lips part, revealing needlepoint teeth.

Maya seems to have noticed as well, her brow creasing unhappily as she gives a displeased hum. She edges a little closer to Jesse. "Ah, fuck... Aiden?" Her voice is coming out in a soft hiss, red eye flickering as the crowd begins to turn to look at the four of them.

Well, more accurately, at Jesse.

"I see them," Aiden mutters, already beginning to pick up his pace. They seem to be heading for the massive black-and-red spire in the center of the cobblestone-lined streets, glowing red.

Lukas raises his hand calmly, several of the people growing closer and closer beginning to whisper and fill the streets with soft noise, like a nest of snakes waking up. "Don't worry. It's just an errand for him."

This response seems to satisfy several of them, as they then shrug and turn back to their conversations, to Jesse's faint relief.

Him.

"Who's 'him'?" Jesse whispers up to Lukas.

"Grammar," he mumbles back, not exactly answering the question they were trying to ask.

Jesse, being their height and starting to fall behind Aiden but being pushed along by Gill and Maya not a foot behind them because, honestly, their legs can only cover so much distance, begins to also start picking up the pace, going from a fast walk to a jog-

And then promptly running into Aiden's back as he skids to a stop, just in the nick of time to avoid walking straight into a woman that has sidled into their path. It's a very pretty woman, with long black hair that she is twirling coyly with one finger, smiling up at Aiden almost delicately. "Hello there, Aiden," she purrs, in a voice that is huskier and deeper than Jesse really expects.

"Hello," Aiden replies tonelessly, surreptitiously sidestepping to try to step around her-

She strolls past him and bends down, taking Jesse's arm with slender fingers.

Gill stiffens. Lukas stops full in his tracks to look at her ( _well, look_ ), while Maya screeches to a halt and Aiden spins on his heel as the woman gives Jesse an absolutely breathtaking smile, leaning in so close that they can smell her perfume. It's overpowering and sweet and it's honestly making Jesse dizzy.

"Hello."

Her two red irises gleam iridescent colors as she tilts her head at them, running a hand down their arm. Honestly, it's very pretty, but all Jesse can think about is how very, very close they are to a complete stranger, and how very, very dangerous this feels despite the completely friendly smile she's giving them.

But it's rude to just stare, so they give her a small "hi" in reply.

She reaches up to touch their hair, running her finger through their fluffy hair and sending chills down Jesse's spine.

They can't tell if those chills are _good_ chills... or _get the hell away from me_ chills.

"You _are_ a cutie, aren't you... pity that you're so small. How old are you, sweetie?" She tilts her head innocently, smile going from the flirtatious one she was giving Aiden to a warm, welcoming one.

"Seven... seventeen..."

Gill's eyebrow shoots up, but he doesn't have time to say anything before the woman touches her lip in surprise, eyes widening and being perfectly round and red. " _Really_! My, you certainly don't look it..." She hums again, even closer now. Jesse really only has to lean forward before their lips touch. "Well, perhaps... you and I could have some... fun, later?"

 _Fun._

A hot wire of fear threads itself through Jesse's spine, at odds with the chills that the way her finger is tracing a path down their arm is, cold hands firm on their shoulders. They give themselves a weak tug, but... well, her grip is stronger than they'd like. "I... no thank you."

She pouts, perfectly done lips showing a tiny hint of slick pink. "Oh, come on, I'm sure you'd like it..."

"No." Jesse gives a weak tug, trying not to ultimately yank themselves away and piss her off. "No, I think I'm fine."

Their eyes flicker up to Lukas, who is not four feet away from them and watching this whole encounter, eyes a little wide.

Lukas rolls his eyes ( _or, well, the head motion indicates something like that_ ) and proceeds to literally scoop Jesse up, effectively pulling them away from the very... _touchy_ woman that has been running her fingers along their sleeve as he hefts them into a grip where they're curled up against his chest.

If he can feel the way they're trembling faintly, he doesn't let on.

"Leave 'em alone, Sirena, they're new," he hums in an almost bored fashion.

She purrs at that, straightening to her full height and stepping closer ( _Jesse can't help but lean away_ ) and runs her finger down his arm coyly, smiling up at him through long eyelashes. "Ooh, how _very_ chivalrous of you, isn't it... regular protector of the weak, aren't you." Her voice has gone from that enticing, almost _warm_ one to outright flirty.

Lukas shrugs nonchalantly at her comment, making Jesse bounce a bit in his arms. "No, just not in the mood to go back to him empty-handed again this month."

 _Him_ again.

The woman pouts at his response again, but backs away, to Jesse's immense relief. "Well, if you insist, Lukas. I'll be looking forward to you coming back." She leans in and gives Jesse a sultry wink. "And you too, of course, cutie."

Lukas inclines his head at her, ignoring the way Jesse shrinks back a tiny bit because _damn_ that perfume is overpowering. "Thank you." And off they're going again, except Lukas is carrying Jesse now, grip tight.

"You can put me down now..."

"We're not trying to repeat that incident. 'Sides, you're light." He shrugs again, Jesse giving a little sound as they bounce. "It's good."

Aiden coughs something that sounds suspiciously like "perfect Lukas", but when he sees Jesse looking at him he turns back forward, ignoring the perplexed expression on their face.

* * *

Now that Lukas is holding Jesse, and the word spreads about _him_ , they move a lot quicker, and they arrive at the spire in moments. Aiden slides the door open and slips in, followed by the other three (well, four, but Lukas is holding Jesse).

The moment the door thudded shut, sending echoing sounds down the halls, Lukas carefully bends down and deposits Jesse back on the floor. "Alright, c'mon. It's just a bit further." And they fall back into their order, Lukas staying in front of Jesse, next to Aiden, while Gill and Maya stand behind Jesse.

They feel a bit like they're being arrested again.

"Where're you guys taking me?" they ask, quickly hastening their speed.

"We're almost there," Aiden replies, which doesn't actually answer their question.

Jesse glances up at the overly ornate walls. The manor that they'd been in before was stately without looking garish; but Jesse swears that several of the columns lining the walls are made of honest-to-god gold, and a lot of the walls are made of something that looks like clear quartz.

"Are we meeting _him_?" they ask Aiden, turning back to the front.

Aiden's steps falter for a second, before his feet resume tapping along the carpet. "Where'd you hear about _him_?"

"Lukas... Lukas said somethin' about _him_ while we were trying to get away from the crowd..." Jesse fidgets with their fingers, picking at the skin around their nails. "It's- is that bad?"

"... it's not... _bad_ , necessarily," Gill speaks up, scratching at his beard as he seems to gaze at the ceiling in thought.

A moment later, his eyes flicker down to Jesse.

"But, uh, don't piss _him_ off, alright?" His lips quirk into a humorless grin. "He's the one who's going to decide whether or not he cares to help you, and... _yeah_. Yeah, we don't want him to really be pissed off when he's deciding."

Jesse gulps.

A moment later, Aiden stops in front of a pair of tall wooden doors, the doors carved with designs. If Jesse looks at them long enough, they swirl in the doorway, clouds behind two very tall dragon doorhandles that intertwine together in a cast-iron motion.

Which makes Jesse wonder how anyone opens the door.

Aiden raps briskly on the door. "Oi. We've got an issue."

"Aiden, perhaps be a little more polite? We're not trying to get Jesse killed here," and Maya jerks her head at the short person just in front of her.

He glares at her. "You know he won't respond if we just knock and are like 'long time no see! How are you? So we have problems.'" He drops the high-pitched falsetto he's been using, crossing his arms and shaking his head slightly. " _He_ isn't Isa."

"And _he_ would probably not be in a good mood if you bang down his fucking door," Maya hisses back.

Jesse is, however, fascinated with the idea of the dragon handles and has edged around Aiden to get a better look. The detail on them is _incredible,_ with tiny ridges that denote spines and scales and the tails intertwining and looking almost like a caduceus.

With Aiden focused on hissing at Maya while the silence behind the door stretches, and Gill and Lukas watch, Jesse slowly reaches out to touch the iron tails.

Lukas spots the motion at the last second, reaching up to grab Jesse's wrist before they can touch the dragon. "Jesse, wait-"

Their fingers brush it.

Instantly, the two dragon heads move, bending slowly as the iron creaks and swiveling.

Aiden spins back forward and swears as the two dragon head curve elegantly around so that they are meeting Jesse's eyes, two tiny rubies set in each dragon's head to indicate the eyes.

Said rubies are glowing as the dragons lean in and give Jesse a careful sniff.

Jesse is currently about as stiff as a statue, but a slow smile comes over their face as they reach up with one (trembling) careful, delicate hand. "Hi there, you two..." The hand moves in a little closer, moving to allow the dragons to sniff it without sticking their faces near Jesse's.

The dragon on the left ( _right? Honestly, with the way they twist, it's hard to tell_ ) moves a little closer, giving Jesse's hand a cautious sniff, while the one on the right ( _left?_ ) inches closer, inspecting it.

Slowly, the two dragons look back up at Jesse's eyes, stopping their attempts at sniffing Jesse.

Jesse takes that as an invitation to carefully move their hand and rub their thumb across the nearest dragon's skull, feeling cool iron steal the warmth from their skin as the iron dragon gives a creaking sound that is remarkably like a purr. "Hi there, little guy..."

The dragon is purring away happily now, causing the other iron dragon to lean forward and try to get some, Jesse's other hand swinging up cautiously to also rub the dragon's tiny skull.

Not even ten seconds later it has devolved into Jesse happily petting two iron dragons.

Lukas stares (well, Jesse can only assume) at Jesse, before glancing at Aiden, who's also gaping at this, as well as Maya and Gill.

"How the f... Kaster and Bedivire always fucking bite me if I so much as brush their tails!" Maya scowls a moment later with a whisper into Gill's ear, although there's a definite quirk to her lips that shows she's forcing a smile down.

A moment later, the two dragons give happy, metallic-sounding chirps and straighten back up to where they were before, their tails and necks unwrapping and untwining from one another until they have become two ramrod straight dragon doorhandles, the doors swinging inwards now that there's nothing keeping the two intertwined.

So _that's_ how the doors open.

A head of bright red hair looks up from where it's seated at a desk at the far end of the room, and even from this distance, Jesse can see an eyebrow shoot up. "What...? I didn't say you could... How did you...?"

Lukas clears his throat. "Um... hey. We have a bit of a problem right now."

The head of red hair sighs in a rather vexed way and stands up, revealing dark brown (or black) robes lined with red and looking much like the spire, before...

It hovers.

The human form hovers into the air and floats closer, before descending and allowing Jesse to make out a head of bright, bright red hair. His eyes are strange- unlike the way everyone's eyes so far have been, which is to say blood red, his irises are not _quite_ bloodred. Which is to say, there is a ring of gold framing his pupil before turning to the normal blood red, but it's noticeable enough for Jesse to notice.

He runs a hand through his hair and lets a sigh huff out of his mouth, before he cocks his head to the side to regard the five of them. "Well. Who's this..." He pauses, glancing them up and down. "... well, I can't tell what gender they are. Who's this?"

"This is Jesse." Gill claps Jesse gently on the back. "They're seventeen."

His eyebrow arches up. "Oh?"

At the confirming nod, he inclines his head at Jesse, who has to crane their neck back a good amount to make eye contact with him. "Well, Jesse, my name is Romeo. I'm the lord of the south of Cosmos."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey look, we meet another important person! A... literal... lord.**

 **Huh.**

 **Jesse has an odd reaction to being... er, _attempting_ to be seduced, Jesse befriends some metal dragons, we meet a lord of Cosmos (the heck is that lol), and they still have not found their heart.**

 **so y'know, things are going well xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Toni42: Baggy clothes are great. But, uh... yeah, he's not great. And those bullies aren't either. / Heh, yeah. Jesse is pretty much stuck. But nope, we meet other people.**

 **That's all for now!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	4. Demons

"... you're a lord?"

Perhaps that just makes Jesse sound stupid, or maybe disrespectful, but honestly, he doesn't really look like a lord, minus his clothing and perhaps the way he's standing.

Romeo gives them a sheepish sort of smile, rubbing his head. "You don't have to sound so surprised about that."

Jesse doesn't really have time to be surprised at how almost- _normal_ he looks at that, almost _shy_ , before he clears his throat and levels his gaze at them, voice becoming brisk and businesslike. "So? What's your wish?"

"They, uh... they didn't really make one," Gill pipes up, making Romeo's red with-a-tiny-ring-of-gold eyes flicker up to him, "we were going to send them back to their world."

Romeo's brow creases as he lifts his head. "Really? Then what are they still doing here?"

"If you haven't noticed the time," Aiden shoots back sardonically, making the tiniest of scowls flit across Romeo's face as he looks up at the other male, "it's past midnight. The portal closed."

Lukas nods, folding his hands behind his back as he hums. "Yes, and someone took their heart."

A moment where Romeo looks completely perplexed, before his furrowed brow clears and he snaps his fingers in realization. "Ah! So then this heart... belongs to them?"

He holds out his palm, a glowing pink rose appearing above it. The rose's petals are slowly opening a little bit.

Jesse has always liked the color pink.

There is an instant tug of their figurative heartstrings, their chest twinging insistently at the presence of the flower. So that confirms without a doubt that this is Jesse's heart.

But...

"That's... my heart?" Jesse steps closer to look at it, peering at the delicate-looking flower curiously. Romeo's eyes follow them as they examine it, surprised at how very pretty and almost untouched the flower is. "But it's a flower."

Romeo gives a nonchalant shrug. "Hearts that are in the shape of some kind of flower indicate the purest of souls... and taste the best."

He tilts his head at the flower hovering above his palm, a wistful look entering his eyes. "I wanted to eat it..."

A tiny, tiny chill snakes down their spine at that, Jesse's head slowly tilting back so their wide eyes meet Romeo's. "Wh... eat it?" they echo him slowly.

Several pieces suddenly slot into place.

Red eyes.

The first human to show up for twenty years.

The first _human_.

"... are you a demon?"

Romeo's lips part in a wide grin at that, their heart still hovering in his palm. "Yep. Those four over there-" He jerks his head at Lukas, Aiden, Maya, and Gill. "- are also demons. Well, half, but close enough."

"... nobody's playing, like, a mean prank on me, are they?" Jesse turns to look at the other four, who are quick to shake their heads at that. Well, at least Lukas, Maya, and Gill are. Aiden just averts his eyes and shrugs dismissively.

Romeo inclines his head at Jesse again, moving his free hand in an expansive motion. "Take a look around at everything that has happened so far, Jesse. What's not to believe?"

"... if this is a dream, it's a really trippy one."

Gill snorts at that (resulting in Maya elbowing him) while Romeo shifts his weight with another nonchalant shrug. "You can believe it's a dream if you'd like, but it's not. You're in the world of Cosmos, where demons live."

His attention shifts back to the glowing pink heart hovering in his palm, and he cocks his head to one side as he purses his lips. "Hmm... should I give you back your heart or not? It's rather a pity, such a lovely heart..."

Jesse shifts in place, looking down at their shoes at that.

 _You know nobody wanted you?_

Don't say anything.

 _Nobody cares about you._

It's not up to you to decide.

 ** _Nobody would care if you died, you freak._**

After another moment, Jesse can feel several pairs of eyes on them. When they peek up, Romeo's giving them a sort of perplexed frown, heart still hovering above his palm.

"I'm, er... I'm pretty sure most people would be begging for their heart back right about now. Or at _least_ asking for it back." Romeo shifts the heart to his other hand, looking at it while absentmindedly licking his lips.

Which, you know, isn't really nerve-wracking at all.

"... well, it's... it's not really up to me to ask for it back," they whisper back, shifting and rubbing their arm awkwardly.

Now Romeo's definitely frowning, as well as most everyone else in the hallway. Even the dragons seem to be looking at Jesse oddly.

"... it's _your_ heart." Romeo glances at the glowing pink heart in his hand, then back at Jesse. "It's literally your _life_. If I decided that, no, I don't want to give this back to you, then you'd die- either because I eat it, or because it disappears."

Jesse gives another weak sort of shifting motion and shrugs, looking back down at the floor. "It's... if you've got it, then it's really up to you to decide. It's not really my place to decide what happens to it."

"Romeo," Aiden snaps rather briskly, "hurry up and make a decision already. I don't really care whether or not you decide to eat their heart or not."

 _Nobody would care if you died._

Lukas shoots a look in Aiden's direction, a scowl crossing his lips as he elbows Aiden in the ribs. "Hey. Don't be so heartless."

"You know that's rather difficult for me to do, right?" Aiden shoots back, a strange, tiny smirk crossing his face.

Romeo considers the heart in his palm, before snapping his fingers. In a little wisp of smoke, the heart vaporizes _(after a moment of panic, Jesse realizes he just hid it or_ _something_ ), and he turns to look at the five of them. "I'll need more time to make a decision."

Aiden's smirk falls into a scowl at that, and he gives a rough sigh. "Fine. Then we'll head back until you call for us."

"No, stay here." Romeo glances at the door, crossing his arms almost in a scolding way. "It's not safe for Jesse outside, since they're human. Besides, with the recent unrest..."

Lukas hums and thumbs the corner of his mouth, glancing at Aiden. "We _did_ have that trouble getting here... and besides, it's pretty late already anyway. Jesse's probably tired." He pauses, mouth curving downwards. "And we definitely don't need more trouble with Sirena."

Aiden is silent for a long moment before giving another tired sigh. "That's... true. I don't really want to, but I guess we don't have another choice."

Romeo gives a nonchalant hum and glances at Jesse. "You tired, Jesse?"

"... a bit..." The moment Jesse says it, they can feel the entire day's events come crashing down on them like an anvil. They _are_ tired. Adrenaline has been rushing through them ever since Aiden quietly declared that their heart went missing, but now that it's draining out Jesse feels as though they might pass out.

Romeo gives a pleased sort of hum. "Well then, you can rest here for the night. Same goes for you four," and he inclines his head at the other four. "You know the rooms that aren't booby trapped."

... _booby-trapped?_

Aiden gives him a curt nod. "Yeah. Jesse, you're going to have to sleep with someone, Romeo's a paranoid bastard and has hooked up half the damn rooms in this place to be booby-trapped and he's only cleared out four rooms."

Jesse hopes nobody notices the way their shoulders momentarily stiffen before they take the easy route out. "Why can't Maya and Gill sleep together? They like each other, don't they?"

If either of them had been drinking anything, they would've done spit-takes. Either way, Maya turns the shade of her shirt and Gill chokes.

"Wha- _no_! I don't _like_ this idiot!" Maya flusters, glaring at Gill with no acidity in her gaze.

"Who are you calling an idiot, you stupid-"

"Who are you calling _stupid_ , you're the one who didn't realize a fucking _Enderman_ was two feet from you!"

"You didn't notice either! You were standing a foot from me!"

"I can be excused since I wasn't _facing_ the thing, you were looking right at it!"

Lukas and Romeo watch Maya and Gill argue ferociously while Aiden leans on the wall, seeming to hide a smile. Jesse's head is rotating from Gill to Maya so quickly that they look like they're doing vigorous neck exercises.

"Looks like even Jesse thinks it too."

"I mean, the way they are, it'd be pretty hard not to notice," Lukas mumbles back out of the corner of his mouth.

Romeo gives a tired snort. "You're not wrong."

A short pause.

"You think they're going to agree to sleep in the same room despite all this fighting they're doing?"

"Of course, they're Maya and Gill."

* * *

Of course, Maya and Gill eventually fall into a reluctant agreement, grumbling something vague about 'oh fine' and 'whatever' and 'who cares anyway' (to Aiden's amusement and confirming Romeo and Lukas's) before they all head down the hall to find the rooms and change into whatever clothes are left in the dressers.

And of course, Romeo doesn't sleep.

Romeo _should_ sleep, it's been a while since he's actually rested properly, but he's really too deep in thought about the matter of the flower heart hovering in his palms to really feel tired at all, and he's currently walking along the entire building because _dammit_ his brain needs a walk.

( _And, if he's being honest, he doesn't want to wake up with a throat raw from screams and tears that nobody, nobody cares about._ )

It's strange. Jesse's heart was literally in his hands. He could see them take that in, the fact that their very life depended on him not going "eh fuck it" and digging his teeth into their heart (which looked so _tasty_ ).

But they didn't say anything.

It was _their life_. What did they mean it wasn't their place to decide what happened to it? It is _theirs_ , whether they like it or not.

Romeo doesn't really know what to expect as he continues roaming the halls. Perhaps one of his booby traps will go off. Perhaps his mail alarm will go off ( _four hours early_ ). Perhaps he'd run into Aiden wearing only a pair of boxer shorts and a way-too-big tank top (okay, that had been a weird night).

He doesn't really expect to turn the corner and find Jesse sitting with their back pressed against his door, the two iron dragons curling around them with their heads resting on their shoulders, in their hands, arching around in the most uncomfortable ways possible to get a little scratch. They're curled up in what looks like a pair of footie pajamas, absentmindedly letting the iron dragons cuddle them while their knees are pressed to their chest.

"... you alright?"

Jesse jumps and nearly brains themselves on the dragon's tails, which makes Romeo wince. "Oh! I'm sorry, I'm probably- probably blocking your way. I'll just- I'll get up and-" Jesse quickly scrambles to their feet, almost tripping as they gently disentangle themselves from the dragons.

"No, it's alright," Romeo holds up his hand, making Jesse freeze in place.

(Part of him wishes his subjects would exhibit the same behavior.)

"I wasn't planning to go in. Just taking a walk." He glances at their heart, still hovering above his palm, then back at Jesse, who's still frozen in a really awkward position.

To put them more at ease, he moves over and sits next to them, leaning against the wall.

( _He doesn't remember the last time he did that with anybody._

 _Well, that's not_ quite _accurate, he_ does _remember, it has just been so long that he doesn't really want to think about it, not to mention the person he did it with isn't exactly here anymore._ )

Jesse stays in their awkward position, before their leg gives way and plops them back onto their bottom, back clunking into the wooden door. "Oh."

The two of them sit there for a moment, Romeo still awkwardly holding Jesse's heart in the air, before he glances at Jesse. "Er... what are you doing up?"

Jesse says nothing, simply huddling down a little more. Then- "Nightmare."

An awkward nod from Romeo. He knows what that's like. "Ah."

More awkward silence. Romeo's feeling a little awkward about simply sitting and watching Jesse hug their knees in footie pajamas that are blue ( _blue,_ blue, _he remembers who loved that color_ ), not to mention the whole awkwardness of not knowing Jesse enough to snap and joke with them as he does with the four others but at the same time not wanting to come off as a creep.

It's a human. Humans don't like creeps.

( _Why does he even care that much?_ )

"What about?"

Jesse, having lapsed into the silence, jumps and turns to look at him with their big green eyes. "Wha?"

"Your nightmare. What was it about?"

Jesse turns a bit pink and looks back at their knees. "Oh. Nothin'. It's stupid."

Romeo gives a noncommittal hum and looks away, tapping his knees, before glancing back at Jesse. They're small. Definitely pretty fragile-looking, but something about them also looks wiry. It's like they're a porcelain doll with a wire sculpture inside.

He decides to give the porcelain another go.

"What's your wish?"

Jesse's head swivels to look at him again. At this point he's tempted to just situate them so they're facing each other. "Huh?"

"Your wish," he prompts. "When I asked you what your wish was, and Gill said you didn't make one..."

"Oh." Jesse blinks, a strange expression coming across their delicate-looking face. They look both uncomfortable and... guarded. As if they have walls up. "I didn't have one."

He gives them a very, very unimpressed look. "Jesse, in order to _come_ to Cosmos, a human literally has to have a desire of some kind. Call it a wish. A human cannot accidentally wander in- not unless they have a wish."

"... oh." Jesse glances away again, giving their head a little shake. "It's nothing. Something stupid."

"Jesse-" Romeo tries again, but Jesse's already climbing to their feet, giving the iron dragons one last little rub. He can feel those walls that they're putting up grow taller and thicker.

"I should get s'more sleep. Sorry for bothering you Romeo." They don't meet his eyes, green eyes fixed on Kaster and Bedivire before they turn away and pad down the hall. "I'll see you tomorrow."

A long, long stare after them.

His eyes slowly flicker down to the glowing pink flower in his hand, and he experimentally reaches up and moves to brush his fingers against it.

A centimeter away, his finger bumps into what feels like glass. No matter how he approaches it or comes at it, the heart is surrounded by what feels like a little glass orb.

A slow raise of his eyebrow follows the way his eyes flicker up to where Jesse is still padding back towards their room.

"... hm."

* * *

 **A/N: I wonder what that 'hm' means.**

 **Well, this is the first major different from the series this is based off of. We're going to stick around with Romeo for a few days (in-story, not literally xD). Get pumped. :3**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **TheAmberShadow: Heee, I'm glad to hear it! / ... I honestly didn't realize that until you pointed it out xD / Heh, thanks.**

 **Toni42: That isn't QUITE the reason that that was the reaction Jesse had. / Hehe xD / Heheheeeee, the dragons were fun. / (evil grinning)**

 **The Princess of Pink: I'm pretty sure it was mentioned indirectly in the first chapter. They look ten but are seven years older. Thus being seventeen. And yes, there's a reason they still act a bit like a child.**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	5. Explanations and Threats

"You _what?_ "

Aiden's tone is so icy that Jesse can feel the temperature in the room actually _drop_ several degrees. His red eye is glaring right at Romeo, whose arms are also crossed.

Despite the fact that Aiden pretty much looks like he can murder Romeo at the moment, he's returning the glare with a good amount of heat. "I need more time to make a decision. I told you last night."

"I thought you meant you needed another _night,_ not a fucking week!" Aiden looks incensed, raking a hand through his hair as he nearly snarls. "Goddamn, Romeo, you usually make your mind up in half a second, why do you now need to take who-knows-how-long deciding if you want to eat their heart?! You even _said_ you wanted to eat it!"

"And I even _said_ that I _need more time_." Romeo's voice is warning, a dangerous glint in his red-and-gold eye. "I don't care how pissed you are about this. The fact is, I. Need. More. Time. To. _Think about it._ "

Jesse shrinks back a little, glancing between the two and making themselves look even smaller than they usually do. Which, believe me, is impressive. "Aiden's scary when he's mad..."

Maya gives a nonchalant shrug, still leaning against the wall. "Yeah, but if you think he's scary just like that, you haven't seen _anything_ yet. Aiden has to hold back when it comes to Romeo."

"'Cause he's a demon lord?"

Gill gives a hum, watching Romeo and Aiden have a glare-off. "Not quite."

Jesse waits for him to elaborate on that.

He doesn't, so Lukas picks up on the slack for him.

"If Romeo dies, the four of us will die as well."

Jesse blinks back at Lukas. "... why?"

Lukas thumbs the corner of his mouth, before tilting his head. "You remember how we were asking you what your wish was? Humans with wishes are drawn to this world. The demon lords will form contracts with the humans that come here, if they can grant their wish."

"... kinda like making a deal with the devil?"

Maya huffs a laugh, twirling her hair around her finger. "Sort of, but... not quite. The human's wish will be granted if they can serve the demon lord for a thousand years in Cosmos."

Jesse's green eyes widen, looking like very pretty green marbles. "A thousand years..."

Perhaps they'd be willing to serve a demon lord for a thousand years if there is even a _small_ chance that their wish can be granted.

"I guess you'd have to really, really want that wish... or be really, really desperate," Jesse muses after a moment, thumbing the corner of their mouth.

Lukas hums, adjusting his blindfold slightly. "Yeah. But there are people that are that desperate. Like Aiden, Maya, Gill and me."

Jesse looks at them all again, realization dawning on them. "You guys... all formed a contract with Romeo?"

"Yep. That's why we're all like this right now."

Jesse looks down at their knees, before back up at Lukas, tilting their head cautiously to the side. "If... if you don't my asking, what was your wish?"

They don't know why they ask this, to a bunch of people they barely know and people who could very easily (probably) kill them. It just occurs to them to ask.

To their credit, none of the three that Jesse is sitting near get offended at a rather personal question. Gill shrugs and tears his eyes from where the tension between Aiden and Romeo is growing heavier and heavier to look at Jesse. "We don't know."

He amends the statement upon spotting the look of utter confusion that crosses Jesse's face at that. "Or, uh, we don't remember. Our hearts were taken away, and our memories were sealed, so we wouldn't run away in the middle of the contract and break it."

Lukas pipes up. "That's why Aiden said that it was a bit hard for him to do yesterday when I told him to not be so heartless. It's a bit of a joke."

"Oh." Jesse pauses, before tapping their eyes. "Is that why your eyes are red? Like a demons'?"

"Yeah." Maya jerks her head at Romeo. "The lords' eyes are all weird- they have a ring of the normal color surrounding their pupils, but then they're red the rest of the way through. Think _heterochromia iridis_ , except that it's much more uniform. But most demons only have red eyes, and right now, like Romeo said last night, we're all half demons. So like most demons, we can take on a more 'human' form." She gives a humorless grin. "It can be pretty inconvenient to have people stepping on a tail or whatnot."

Jesse gives a nod of understanding, so Maya continues. "We're half demons right now because we've been given the powers of demons. Humans are in demand for demon lords because we aren't beings of light or dark specifically- so, that means we can use both types of magic."

She pauses, before adding, "Also, what's most dangerous to demons wouldn't be as effective for us."

"I see..." Jesse bites their lip, before tilting their head at them. "Does- uh- does that mean you guys get your wish? After you're done serving Romeo?"

"Yeah, the wish isn't granted until after we finish our contract. So while there are some lovely wishes, like... 'I want my mom to get well', for example, those can't be granted. Time _does_ move faster here than it does in the human world, but the wish is granted _after_ the thousand years are up, so... if you made that wish, your mother would still be dead," Lukas contributes helpfully. "We know from that that that isn't a wish any of us made, as Romeo wouldn't have contracted us if he can't do it, but that's about all we know about our wishes."

Jesse nods. "I see," they repeat, because they sort of _do_ see.

Romeo gives a frustrated sound a moment later, making Jesse glance back at the demon lord. "You know what, Aiden, why don't you... go do whatever the hell you do and calm down. Maybe go eat something." He glances at Jesse sidelong, which makes them blink at him. "I need you to bring Jesse back here by seven tonight, but otherwise you can do whatever you want to with them."

"Why here by seven?" Gill's brow quirks at that very specific requirement.

Romeo rolls his eyes; Jesse watches with interest as red-and-gold irises slide around the whites of his eyes in a very weird way. "Because it's less likely that anyone'll harass them like what happened yesterday if it seems that they are under my protection and I'm figuring something out- which is true- and also you know how dangerous it gets for humans after seven thirty."

"Ah, that's true... okay, then," Lukas mumbles.

Aiden's eyes narrow at Romeo, before a harsh huff of breath comes out of his mouth. "Fine. But I need to head back to the house first." His eyes flicker angrily to Lukas, Maya, and Gill. "You three, go head to that cafe place and just snag a seat. Jesse, you come with me."

Jesse blinks. "Ah, okay."

* * *

The trek back through town is a hassle.

Not really because anyone bothers them (even Sirena skirts out of the way upon seeing the look on Aiden's face), but primarily for the reason that Aiden moves too fast for Jesse to actually keep up without jogging or (when Aiden's speedwalking) running.

So it's not too much of a surprise that after ten minutes of Jesse basically having to sprint after Aiden, they end up falling behind, further and further until he disappears around a corner and Jesse scrambles to round it to find that he's somehow vanished. Fantastic.

"Ohhh, that little treat that Romeo's got holed up in his tower's here."

Jesse jumps about three feet into the air at the sound of the voice to their left, a man with his hair pulled back into a greasy ponytail leering at them. His two buddies, looking as though they might have more than one fake tooth, also sneer at Jesse.

"I, I'm going somewhere. I'm sorry." Jesse starts to walk away from them-

A hand crushes their arm. Jesse barely has time to even cry out before the man shoves them into an alley that they didn't notice, throwing them sharply to the ground.

They barely manage to catch themselves on their hands and knees, feeling their palms skid across the rough ground. From the stinging pain in them, they know they've skinned their hands.

"Aw, leaving so soon? We just want to play."

" _Let's just have some fun, alright?_ "

" _This is happening too fast. I don't wanna do this anymore."_

Jesse swallows, slowly pushing themselves to their feet, turning around and backing away from the three. They somehow look bigger than they did before. "I... don't really want to."

" _I don't care._ "

The demon's friend's lips part into a sickening grin. "What if we don't care?"

 _Leave._

 _You have to leave now._

 _You could scream._

 _But why would anyone care?_

Jesse backs up slowly until their back nearly hits the wall, knowing that makes them look even smaller and more defenseless. The three men close in, Jesse's mind scrambling for something, anything, even with the fact that their heart is going faster than a rabbit and their hands are trembling uncontrollably.

And then it hits them.

If they want to leave, they will leave.

And then they dart forward.

If you've ever seen a squirrel run up a tree, you know how fast something with legs that short can move. Jesse shoots forward, to the three demons' surprise, and finds themselves diving into a roll, smacking through their legs and then flying onto their feet racing out of the alley, turning recklessly to the left and continuing to sprint, ignoring the shouts and irritation that fades from their ears-

They slam full-on into a leather-jacket-clad torso, literally bouncing off and catching themselves on the ground, wincing at the way their knee complains vocally. Aiden blinks at them a couple times, apparently not having expected them to shoot out of nowhere and then slam into him.

He scowls at them a moment later, making a prickle of guilt tighten the knot in their stomach. "Keep up, would you."

And he turns around and keeps striding through town, forcing Jesse to break back into a little run.

* * *

Jesse doesn't know what they're expecting when Aiden shoves open the door to the manor, striding through the halls and eventually throwing one door open, but it's certainly not a tiny garden.

Aiden seems to be poking through some of the flowers, his stern expression (for once) seeming softer and a little less irritated.

The flowers are certainly not that bad-looking, some of the leaves being pure white and some being black, blossoms ranging from black to red to white to gray to even a few pink-hued ones.

Jesse leans to look at one that looks a bit like a pot of roses, except the leaves are jet-black. "These are the flowers in Cosmos...? They don't look that different from the ones at home. 'Cept the color of the leaves."

Aiden gives a mild hum, making Jesse look over at him. He seems too invested in the flowers to really seem irritated or annoyed by their statements, or even just seem irritated in general. "Some of the flowers certainly look like the ones in your world, but..."

He glances up at them. "43.7 percent of them in Cosmos are carnivorous, while 67.9 percent of the plants in Cosmos are poisonous."

"... is this one over here carnivorous, poisonous, or both?" Jesse asks politely while trying not to show the fact that they're now tentatively edging away from the pot of roses.

Aiden gives what sounds almost like a huff of laughter, making Jesse look up to see a small smile on his face. "Nah, don't worry. The flowers in my garden are all harmless."

 _... he's smiling._

"Flowers always improve my mood, for some reason. It's... nostalgic." Aiden twirls a stem between his fingers, a thoughtful look gleaming in his right eye. "I wonder why, sometimes... maybe it has something to do with when I was a human."

Jesse gives a tentative hum and a smile. "Well, flowers are great. Did you know that the Victorians in my world actually had a language? If they gave you bouquets with certain flowers in 'em, it basically meant something. So you could give someone a bouquet that basically says 'I hate you'."

Aiden barks a laugh at that. "Hah, really? That's pretty cool. Maybe there's something like that in Cosmos, too."

He's quiet for a moment, still sorting through the plants. "That's why I'm not so happy about Romeo taking so long to decide about anything. Whenever he takes too long to decide, or sends us on a long mission, or even sends us traveling, we have to be on call, and there's not really anyone to take care of the plants."

The half-demon tilts his head to one side, regarding the flowers in his fingers. "The last time I left on a lengthy mission, Romeo said he'd take care of the flowers for me. I wasn't exactly sure he'd know what to do, but it wasn't like I had any other choice..."

An irritated sort of smile crosses his face at the memory, his fingers still ticking through the flowers carefully. "And ahhh, despite my hopes, when I came back, more than half of my flowers had died. If Lukas, Maya and Gill hadn't stopped me, I might have killed him that day."

Jesse gives a weak chuckle, scratching their cheek. "Ahh, I guess that's understandable... but why did you bring me here?"

Aiden's smile fades slowly. "Because..."

And then his gaze hardens, eyes going from almost soft to dangerous steel in not even a minute.

Jesse barely has time to brace themselves before they find him looming over them, gaze icy cold. "I don't want to spend much time having to watch over you. A _human_ like you is going to be a hindrance. So if you cause us too much trouble, I'll kill you before your heart disappears."

Shivers shoot down Jesse's spine.

 _Don't cry. Don't make a sound. Don't waste my time._

Their back is pressing into the pot of flowers, but they simply swallow their tears and the fear as best as they can.

"Let me make one thing very clear to you," Aiden says, in a dangerously soft snarl. "I _do not_ want to waste time on you. I _do not_ want you to waste my time. I _will_ kill you the second you become too much trouble."

 _I'm already too much trouble._

"So if you want a chance at staying alive, stay back and do _exactly_ as we tell you, or we'll have to waste precious time saving your sorry ass, and I _don't_ give a shit about doing that too much. Even without your heart, the demons in Cosmos will still consider you an exotic meal."

Aiden gives a dark, almost frightening chuckle, red eye glinting as he glares at Jesse. "So don't _think_ about getting close to me," a step forward.

Jesse's back is pressing into the pot even more now.

"Don't waste my time with _stupid_ questions," another step.

Jesse can't move anymore.

"And do _exactly_ as I say, because if things go _at all_ like they're supposed to, you'll be out of our hair by the end of the month. _Got it?_ "

"I-" Jesse's voice chokes, catching in their throat before any of it can really come out, guilt clawing at their insides, a blink forcing tears out.

And then they realize what they've just done, hastily reaching up and scrubbing their eyes, shoulders trembling. "I- I've got it. I- I-" Their voice cracks, feeling more and more fear creep into them.

His hand moves.

Jesse instantly flinches away, almost knocking the pot of flowers over before they grab it, clumsily stabilizing it.

"I- I'll be at the door- you-" Now tears are beading in the corners of their eyes, but they're trying their best to scrub them away as hard and fast as they can before they can make it far down their face, just staring at the ground. "You finish up with the- the fl-" Another strangled sob that they crush in their throat.

 _Don't waste his time._

 _Nobody wants you, anyway._

Before Jesse can say anything else, they give a clumsy nod and run for the door, scrambling to run away from him and find their way to wait just inside the front door and scrub away the tears and put on a pleasant, mild expression and not cry, don't cry, _don't cry_.

They don't spot the way Aiden's head moves up to follow their path, confusion flickering in his eyes again.

* * *

 **A/N: Jesse needs love. They'll get it eventually, I promise.**

 **I mean, I think.**

 **Probably.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Toni42: There were a couple hints that I think should've set off some warning bells. / Heheeeee x3 / Romeo is great and he will get more screentime later xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: There IS a reason he has it on but I can't say why. /Hehehe, yeah xD / Yep, it's Romeo. xD He's a bit nicer in this fic. / Yeah... / We ain't in Wonderland unfortunately xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	6. Breakfast Gossip

Okay, Aiden's a _little_ put off by now.

It's not that he didn't expect Jesse to be frightened after he threatened them. He did. He expected them to be frightened enough that they shut up and don't say anything. Which they're doing.

But what he still can't understand is why Jesse flinched away when he moved his hand to take them by the shoulder and pull them away from the flowers ( _because those flowers can be surprisingly fragile_ ).

And he doesn't quite understand why, when he's finished with the flowers and goes to the front door, Jesse looks perfectly mild and normal and doesn't even react badly when he moves closer to them to open the door. If he _looks_ closely he can tell that their eyes are a bit red, but otherwise they're still acting like they did earlier.

Well, they're now keeping a safe three feet of distance between him and them, but beyond that they're acting as though nothing happened.

He's still pondering what the _heck_ happened to make them react the way they did when they reach the cafe, where Gill stands up from a booth and flails his arms like he's trying to turn into a helicopter until Maya yanks him back down.

Lukas stands up to let Jesse go the deepest inside (just to avoid anyone trying to harass them), which Jesse does with complete normalcy (if rather gladly).

"Sorry to bother you guys," they hum now, holding a menu that's almost bigger than their torso.

Gill hums, glancing down at the menu and not looking up at them while Aiden glances up from where he's sitting on Lukas's other side. "It's okay, we need to eat breakfast too."

His attention switches back to the idea of food, a thoughtful hum making him press his lips together. "Let's see, what should we order..."

"Ooh!" Maya suddenly grins with interest, "there's something new on the menu!"

Lukas blinks and looks a bit closer at the menu, a small frown tugging at his lips. "Eh? Where? I don't see it."

Maya leans across the table and taps the menu where the new item is. "Look, it's on the top..."

Aiden glances at Jesse again, who's watching the three of them with interest, almost as if they're all a big family arguing at a restaurant, peering over their menu to watch. After a moment, their eyes switch to Aiden, who's still looking at them, and they quickly glance back at the menu, averting their eyes.

"Jesse, what do you want?" Lukas asks, making their head snap back up to look at him in wide-eyed surprise.

"O-oh, um..." Jesse quickly looks back at the menu... and then their face changes to one of surprise, then confusion, and then discomfort. Their eyes flicker up, skipping over Aiden briefly, before they fold their menu and set it on the table quietly. "I'm, um... I'm fine."

Lukas's lips turn down in a frown. "C'mon, you gotta eat something... something wrong?"

"Can't decide?" Gill chimes in.

"Uh... no... it's not that." Jesse shifts slightly, scratching their cheek awkwardly and looking at a knife gouge in the table.

A moment passes, before Lukas hums and snaps his fingers. "Ah, the food in Cosmos isn't the same as it is in your world, is it? There's probably not that much you can eat, then, so I'll order for you."

Jesse shrinks slightly. "Oh, you... you don't have to..."

"Look, we're not all just going to eat and leave you hanging, that'd be weird," Lukas murmurs, scanning the menu and giving a small frown. "Hmm, not that much you can eat... I hope you're not a picky eater."

Jesse gives an awkward laugh, scratching their cheek again. "Uhh, well, I'm not... but why is there not much I can eat?"

"Most demon food contains small amounts of poison. Which demons _like_ , and half-demons can handle, but humans can't," Maya chimes in, pursing her lips and looking up at the sky for a moment. "And don't worry, you're not going to eat any humans. Not enough come here for it to be on the menu."

Jesse turns all shades of pale at that statement.

Gill elbows Maya, scowling. "And you tell _me_ not to freak them out more. I don't think that even occurred to them."

"No cannibalism. That's not a thing." Lukas pats Jesse gently and reassuringly on the back. "Even if that _was_ a thing and humans were on the menu, I wouldn't order something for you that would mean you become a cannibal."

Even with that reassurance, Jesse still remains the color of chalk.

Aiden clears his throat and waves at a waitress that happens to be passing by. "Excuse me! We're ready to order..."

What's funny with how popular the cafe actually is is that the cafe _does_ turn out food fast, and before long everyone's got food in front of them, with Jesse having a little bowl of... oh. _Oooooh_ that plant's not Aiden's favorite. He really hopes that Jesse saying that they weren't a picky eater is a true statement.

Jesse tilts their head, blinking at the table of food, before shrugging and pulling their bowl of food towards themselves, taking a slightly overly large bite- considering how much steam is still rising from the food.

"D'you like it, Jesse?" Lukas asks, already eating from his plate. Aiden's both paying attention to this conversation and the fact that Jesse is eating what is basically steaming hot food at a pace that is...

Actually, he's starting to wonder how they're not burning their mouth.

"Umhm." Jesse gives a quick nod before continuing to eat. Before Gill's even gotten halfway through his food ( _and believe me, if you haven't seen Gill eat you haven't seen_ anyone _eat quickly_ ), Jesse's already done.

Maya blinks at Jesse as she quits scolding Gill in favor of seeing that Jesse's literally scraped the bowl clean, giving a startled laugh. "Ah... you _were_ hungry, weren't you?"

Jesse doesn't act coy or shy or anything. They just shrug and sit back into the booth seat. "Yeah, I didn't have anythin' except a cherry soda yesterday."

"Hey, did you hear about the party in Yurin?"

Aiden hushes Maya before she can ask about that ( _even though he's honestly curious as well_ ), jerking his head behind him at the booth behind him. "Guys. Listen."

Another voice speaks up, sounding slightly confused. "A party? For what?"

"I think it's to celebrate the creation of the first machine. You know, the Oasis and Redstonia and all that nonsense is up in the north."

"Ah. I don't keep track of that. Why even bring it up? Demons like us wouldn't get invited to something like that anyway."

"Yeah, but you know how Xara doesn't like Romeo?"

Aiden can spot Jesse's expression becoming rather bemused at the unfamiliar name, even as Lukas stiffens slightly and Gill develops a big interest in his remaining food.

"Dude, everyone knows that. Neither of them have exactly made it official, but they both just stay the hell away from each other. You kinda gotta wonder why. Can't blame her anyway, there's nothing special about Romeo. Only thing he has is luck."

"Yeah, that's true. But normally for a party, all the other lords are invited. Even the barons and baronesses."

"Right..."

"Xara didn't invite Romeo. As a matter of fact, she didn't invite anybody from Narvid. Not even any of the minor barons or baronesses that are bordering on Narvid, which is saying a lot."

"Isn't that basically like... declaring war on us?"

"I wouldn't go that far... either way, I'm glad we're on opposite sides. Yurin can't get to Narvid easily."

Jesse looks perplexedly at the others. "What was anything they were just talkin' about?" they ask in a whisper- perhaps so that the people they were eavesdropping on don't... _realize_ they were being eavesdropped on.

Maya glances at Lukas. "Lukas, you're the best with visual magic, can you do your...?"

Lukas hums and carefully nudges his plate to the side to avoid upsetting it and getting food everywhere. "Yeah, alright."

A snap of his fingers, and the area around them darkens. "We'd usually have Romeo explain, since he's the best at it, but... well, it involves Xara, and best way to piss him off is to refer to her, so let's not."

Aiden snaps his fingers as well, knowing that the orb of darkness is contained to the table. A moment of listening passes before he nods. "Okay, we should be okay with sound, too."

"What do you mean? Why'd you guys make it dark?"

A moment later, a glowing red map of Cosmos appears above the table, although obviously simplified by a lot. The map shape is consisted of five large dots, one at the top, one in the center, one at the bottom, one on the left, and one on the right. The smaller dots are placed at each halfway point between the dots, all connected with lines. It looks like a rhombus with lines crisscrossing it.

"... oh." Jesse's eyes are gleaming red in the dark, staring as if spellbound at the map.

"This is a simple image of Cosmos, or as simple as it can get, anyway," Lukas begins. "Cosmos is divided into five districts- North, West, East, South, and the Center. Each district is ruled by a lord in a capital, of sorts."

Lukas points at the lines connecting the dots. "There are determined 'safe' paths that are regulated by the lords between every capital, and there are smaller towns that mark the halfway points into another district on each path- for example, Champion City, to the west, marks the point where the south district turns into the west district."

He points a bit with one hand."And Fred's Keep, which is north of the capital, where we are now, marks the part where the south turns into the center district."

Jesse gives a little nod in understanding. "Okay."

"Right now, we're in Narvid, which is ruled by Romeo. The capital's name is- well, uh, we call it the Underneath, although Romeo jokingly proposed a name that nobody liked."

Gill snorts, almost choking on his food. "Oh man, don't remind me."

"Why? What's the name?"

Lukas tactfully avoids the subject, flicking the map and allowing the map to zoom in on the west district's capital. "The west district is called Hizelk, and is the only district ruled by three leaders- Isa, Mevia, and Harper."

An image of three women is superimposed over the map. (Aiden's pretty sure Jesse's eyes grow to the size of plates.) Isa is, of course, in the center, her long black hair falling to her waist with that ring of green around her pupils before changing to red.

Mevia's on the left, her pupil appearing larger from the rim of black that's around her pupil before it goes to red with her shoulder-length pale blue hair, and Harper's pupils are interesting because of the gray rimming her pupil, which just makes it look like there's some sort of barrier around her pupil.

Aiden momentarily finds it amusing that Isa has black hair, Harper has pure white, and then Mevia just has pale blue.

Lukas waits for Jesse to finish looking at the three before he continues. "The capital's called Sky City and the ruling system is a _bit_ weird, but that's a long story that we should wait until we're somewhere more private to even think about discussing."

The map travels north, allowing Xara to appear on the image. Her face is peaky and almost yellow as usual, dark violet rimming her pupil and making the transfer to red seem a little more normal, and her dark, wild purple hair is pulled back into a somewhat neat ponytail.

"Yurin, the north district, is ruled by Xara. She doesn't like Romeo for some reason, and this is _supposedly_ a recent development, but..." Lukas makes a little face at the memory of their attempt to ask about it. "Romeo gets pretty pissy if we try to ask about it, so we just avoid that topic."

Jesse gives a little bob of their head. "Yeah, that's fair," they say mildly.

Lukas gives a shrug and nudges the map to the east. "The east district is called Enchantra and is under Ivor's rule."

Aiden gives a sheepish sort of smile as Ivor's image appears. Dark blue transferring to red isn't such a shock as it is with Isa's eyes, but it's not exactly smooth, either. Ivor's hair is tied up in a sort of loose ponytail, and his primarily black armor mixes with the small bits of blue that he seems to wear.

He's not a big fan of the black and red theme, honestly.

"He's been around the longest out of us. He's..." Lukas pauses, before giving a sheepish grin. "He's really, _really_ powerful. It's a little scary, honestly."

The map goes back to the center. "And the center district, Jupin, used to be ruled by Fred. The thing is, he got killed after going on a journey with Romeo and Xara, which seems to have something to do with the whole... Xara-not-liking-Romeo thing, but we haven't gotten details, and since his death, Cosmos hasn't been peaceful."

"Ivor's been looking for a ruler to replace Fred, but... it's going pretty slowly, since this happened a few years back and we still don't have a new lord. This means a lot of trouble collects in Beacontown- the capital- because there isn't a lord to keep it in check."

Jesse hums, frowning thoughtfully. "I see..."

"But I don't even think Romeo _knows_ about the party... we should tell Romeo about that rumor once we get back," Maya mumbles, her brow furrowing. "This could be related to that issue that popped up a few weeks back."

"With Isa?" Now Aiden's interested. Not only because it's Isa, but...

If it involves that issue, it probably means he'll have to go on some lengthy mission again, which... means he'll have to leave his flowers alone.

Great.

Maya bites her lip as Lukas dissipates the illusions around the table. "Yeah... hopefully Romeo can get a conversation going with the lords and see if something's up."

"Beyond Xara not liking Romeo, you mean," Gill corrects her around a mouthful of food.

"Well, yeah." Maya pauses before squinting at Gill. "And don't talk with your mouth full, you know how gross that is?"

Aiden notices Jesse watching them again as Lukas pulls his plate back to him and resumes eating his food calmly, as Maya and Gill resume bickering over food. Their gaze is something he can't read.

And that's something he doesn't feel comfortable about.

They notice his eyes on them a second later, barely meeting his red iris before looking back at their empty bowl, quietly avoiding looking at him without being overtly... well, avoiding him.

He _still_ can't figure out their reaction.

And that's kind of pissing him off.

* * *

 **A/N: Jesse eats (which they needed so that's good), Aiden's confused, and some world mechanics are explained.**

 **This shall be the funnest of stories, especially considering the next chapter xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Princess of Muffins: Ahhh, thank you! I'm glad you enjoy.**

 **TheAmberShadow: Yeeeep, for the most part. And that's not quite why- some of their reactions are a bit extreme or weird. Most people, if being threatened, will either snap back or just break down in tears, but Jesse's not quite in that bursting into tears category.**

 **eternal-eloquence: I'm glad you enjoy this, and thank you for the review! And haha, don't worry, I'm updating because I want to xD**

 **Toni42: Their wishes _are_ rather interesting, if not something I'm planning on revealing. xD / He is, but perhaps for good reason. / Heheeee x3**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	7. A Late-Night Communication

Romeo sits in his chair, drumming his fingers on the desk thoughtfully as he watches the spinning orb hovering at eye-level, glowing with letters.

He hasn't contacted the other lords for a month now.

It's not that he doesn't _want_ to keep in contact with them. Keeping Cosmos in a state of... relative order depends on the five ( _four,_ four _, there's only four of them now, isn't there, and who's fault is_ that?) four of them keeping in contact and staying in relative agreement about matters.

But the thing is, it is very, very easy to slip out of contact once you stop seeing one another in person.

It used to be that the meetings were held in Beacontown. The lords would meet in Jupin once a month to discuss changes, quirks, strange events happening around Cosmos, in order to keep Cosmos stable.

And then Fred died.

And things got a bit more difficult.

For one, he and Xara developed an unspoken agreement to not be in the same room as one another.

( _Or even really talk to each other for too long._ )

So this obviously made meeting in person near-impossible.

The communication orbs were initially intended to only be used in the case of emergency, but, well, when two of the people who have them are no longer able to stay in the same room, they end up becoming a necessity.

Eventually, _everyone_ stopped meeting in Jupin.

( _He suspects that Isa, Mevia, and Harper all agree with Ivor that it's not a good idea to take a break from their cities unless all of the lords are able to do so, as it's a bit of a waste of time to trek there otherwise._ )

The monthly meetings are now held using the communication orbs. What used to be calm hours of almost casual talk about issues or problems turned into five-minute terse comments about problems, possible solutions, promising to try them, and then hanging up on the other people on the line.

( _At least in his and Xara's case._ )

He hasn't contacted any of the other lords beyond the monthly meetings for at least a year or two now.

But now here he is, waiting for someone to pick up at a stupid time of night because Lukas, Maya, Aiden, and Gill come back with Jesse to report about Xara holding a party in Yurin, and how it might be connected to _that_ , and that's something he has to discuss, but he's been so busy all day with paperwork while the four of them debate whether or not they're going to stay here again _(eventually they decide to do so because it's past seven and too dangerous to leave when they hear a fight going on_ _outside_ ).

Romeo's snapped back into his thoughts as the orb chimes, an illusion snaking out from the top and forming a screen above the orb.

His stomach gives a small, small, tight twist at who it is that picks up.

"What the hell is it, Romeo?" Xara sounds highly irritated as she crosses her arms, glaring at him through the illusion. He can still feel the iciness of her gaze through a magical connection that literally spans hundreds of miles.

He tries not to let her see that he feels it.

"Rumors fly, Xara. The October Children overheard something about a party in Yurin," he replies, somehow managing to keep his voice steady and not shaking or wavering in the least.

She shoots him a glare so acidic it could probably burn through steel in half a second. "I'm not inviting you. Is that it?"

"No. Why _are_ you holding a party? With the recent issue of-"

"I _know_ full well about the issue, Romeo-"

He grits his teeth and returns the glare, perhaps not quite as scathing but definitely with just as much heat. "Well, you _could've_ fooled me-"

"Oh, and of _course_ _you_ can talk, can't you," she spits back, almost as if her words are poison on her tongue, "I can tell you're pissed off. Don't go throwing a fucking temper tantrum. You're not half bad at those, are you, considering-"

" _Shut up-!_ " He chokes on the words, anger and pain and a tiny, tiny knot of hatred forming in his throat, jamming his words and keeping them trapped in his throat.

"Behave, you two."

Xara and Romeo immediately fall quiet as a screen forms to the right of the orb, Ivor appearing on the screen. His red-and-dark-blue eyes are tired as he leans to one side, crossing his black-armor-clad arms. "If we're having a meeting outside of the typical monthly meetings, we are going to behave politely and in a civil manner towards one another."

"... fine."

"Okay."

Xara and Romeo mumble a half-apologetic statement to Ivor simultaneously, averting their eyes momentarily. The demon _does_ have a habit of making them feel as if they're misbehaving children.

Ivor watches them for a moment longer, before letting out a low, soft sigh and crossing his arms. "Well. If we're here... are we discussing the latest issue?"

"Planning to, yes," Romeo mumbles. Xara doesn't say anything in agreement; she just kind of grunts a bit.

There is a long, rather awkward pause, before another flickering wisp comes out and flickers into existence on the left, Isa, Mevia, and Harper appearing on the screen. Harper gives a tiny smile. "Hello. Uh... long- long time no see."

Ivor automatically lifts his hand in a tiny wave, his lips quirking into what's almost a smile. "Hello, Harper."

( _Romeo and Fred and Xara used to jokingly conspire to get Ivor and Harper together; they were pretty sure the two lords had a soft spot for one another. Mevia and Isa didn't encourage their matchmaking... but they didn't discourage it either._ )

His smile(?) is still there as his eyes flicker to Mevia and Isa. "It's good to see that you're all doing alright. No large issues in Hizelk?"

Isa rolls her eyes. "Well, Soren hasn't actually come to any of the district meetings for a while, and Cassie's stopped showing up in person to those meetings-"

"She's been doing that with you, too?" Xara interrupts, frowning. "I thought she was closer with you three."

Isa quickly speaks up. "We are."

"She is," Mevia agrees, although slightly hesitantly.

"She's still not coming in person to the meetings," the two of them chorus in unison, before they glance at each other awkwardly.

Harper gives a tiny chuckle. "You'd think we would've broken ourselves of the habit by now. Anyway, yes, Duomoon and the End no longer come in person to district meetings, but otherwise we don't have many issues, no."

Romeo grunts. "Stella shows up?"

"She's always early." Harper gives her head a fond, if somewhat exasperated, shake. "A bit overbearing sometimes, but... at least she's coming, unlike the other two."

Ivor gives a nod. "That's good, then."

Isa gives a hum herself, leaning her elbow on her desk and absentmindedly twisting one lock of hair around her finger. "What about you? Any luck finding a new lord?"

A quiet shake of his head. "The world just keeps saying 'not yet'."

"The hell does that mean?"

"Why do you think I know...?"

Even though Ivor sounds somewhat exasperated with Xara's question, he's really only half-grumbling, and all of the lords know it. ( _Trust me, they know. They've seen him pissed off. This is nowhere near that. Besides, they've known each other for so long that they've become roughly friends_ )

A moment later, Mevia clears her throat, making all sets of eyes travel to her. "As nice as it is to catch up... Romeo, you called?" Her eyes switch to Romeo, crossing her arms slightly.

"Oh. Right." Romeo clears his throat, making the mild mood disappear. "Well, the October Children overheard about Yurin having a party... with the issue that's been going around lately, why would any of us...?" He trails off slightly.

Xara probably would snap at him again if they're the only ones there. As it is, she gives a very annoyed sigh and begins, sounding exasperated. "Because, Romeo, if some of the lords come to a party, we have our keys. And it makes it all the attractive for whoever's stealing the keys to come and take it, as there is the possibility of getting two keys rather than one."

"... oh." Romeo pauses, before frowning. "But what if it backfires? What if whoever's coming to steal the keys manages to steal both-?"

"That's why I invited Ivor and not you," Xara snaps, her thinning patience snapping ( _but that's not quite the full reason is it_ ), "because he's a lot less likely to be able to slip up and lose his own fucking key."

Romeo flinches at that, cheeks flushing red, because of _course_ he's not good enough to keep that going, of _course_ he would slip up, of _course_ if someone were to attack him he wouldn't be able to keep the key, he's not _good_ enough, is he, he wasn't good enough to keep his temper, he isn't good enough to do _anything_ -

"Xara." Isa's voice is quiet, but firm, snapping Romeo out of his thoughts to see the black-haired woman leveling an even stare at the purple-haired demon.

Xara scowls but falls silent anyway.

There is a very long, very awkward pause as the lords all look at each other _(with Romeo keeping his eyes fixed firmly on a small skull on his_ _desk_ ), before Harper gives her throat an awkward clearing, apparently deciding to change the subject. "Well, um... did anyone form any new contracts this time?"

Xara shakes her head almost instantly. "Of course not. It's been thirty years since a human has even _showed up_ here. I'm starting to wonder if something's wrong with the portals."

"Well, you also live in a more northbound area, it makes sense that humans wouldn't go wandering around in snow and sleet and who-knows-what-else to find a 'wish-making-area'," Ivor murmurs.

"True... does that mean you've made any new contracts?" the purple-haired demon lord asks, tilting her head. Romeo recovers from his doubts enough to glance over at Ivor to see his answer.

Ivor's shaking his head before Xara even finishes. "I haven't seen a human in Enchantra for longer than any of you. Harper?"

Harper frowns and glances at Mevia, who glances at Isa, who shrugs and gives a shake of her head. "If either of you two have spotted any humans, I'm not aware of it."

"Definitely not." Mevia sighs, rumpling up her pale blue hair.

Harper gives an unhappy hum. "I don't think it helps that it's nearly impossible to get anybody who has a _valid_ wish."

Another sigh from Mevia, who crosses her arms and then looks up at the screen again. "Well, how about you, Romeo? Any new contracts?"

A long pause as Romeo drums his fingers on the desk thoughtfully, trying to figure out how to phrase it.

Finally, he begins. "Well... yes and no."

This makes Ivor straighten up, a tiny frown crossing his face. "What do you mean, 'yes and no'? Forming a contract is straightforward- you either make it or you don't."

"Well, a human _did_ come. I just didn't make a new contract," Romeo hastily amends the statement.

Harper gives him a faintly sympathetic smile, almost as if he's still a new lord. ( _Except he isn't, is he, it's been too long for him to really still even be considered a_ new _lord._ ) "Their wish was no good?"

"Not... exactly..." He bites his lip, still drumming his fingers on his desk, "it-"

"Um... Romeo?"

He jumps and nearly falls out of his chair at the soft voice that isn't issuing from the orb and somewhere in his actual office; as it is he barely manages to catch himself and his shoulder feels as though he just twisted it as he slides halfway out of the chair.

"Romeo? Who was that?" Xara looks a bit confused now, quirking her eyebrow at the fact that he nearly just fell out of the chair entirely.

Red-and-gold irises roam the room as he grimaces and clambers back into the chair, until he realizes there's someone behind the orb in the doorway.

A gentle nudge to the side reveals Jesse standing next to Kaster and Bedivire, who are (once again) nuzzling Jesse happily.

He notices they're dressed in the footie pajamas again.

"O-oh, Jesse." He glances at the screen and makes a _one second_ gesture before looking at the tiny teenager in front of him. "Did you need something?"

They shuffle their feet awkwardly. "Um, I can wait if you're busy... sorry, Kaster and Bedivire let me in again."

 _Of course they did. Traitors._

Romeo gives a small shake of the head, a weak smile coming over his face. "Ah, no, it's alright, I was just talking to a few people. What did you need?"

Jesse opens their mouth, then shuts it again. Another tiny shuffle, their face heating up as their green eyes go to the floor.

"Um... where's the not-booby-trapped bathroom?"

He looks at them for a minute.

And then he rubs his forehead, feeling his cheeks flush. "Oh. Yeah. I forgot I- er, it should be the one that's next to my office. There IS one immediately going in with the guillotine-"

"The what?" Annnnnd Jesse is about twenty shades of pale right now.

He hastens to reassure them. "It's not going to hurt you, just open the door and run in or just... open the door and stick your hand out underneath and then duck back. It should just go and hit the floor."

Jesse is _still_ twenty shades of pale.

"Er... if you need to you can go ask one of the others for help going in. Maybe Gill or Aiden," he offers. "They're both certainly reckless enough to trip the booby trap without getting injured."

Jesse seems to go a little paler at that, for some reason.

"Romeo."

Both Romeo and Jesse jump at the voice this time, Jesse almost jumping right into Kaster, which probably would result in a nasty bruise on their back since... well, Kaster's made of metal.

Romeo's eyes snap back to the screen, Ivor frowning at him curiously. "Who is that?"

Romeo holds his hand up in the _one minute_ gesture again and glances back at Jesse, who's barely remaining from flopping on the floor since Kaster is using his tail to keep them partially upright. "Er... is it an emergency, or can you hold it for a minute?"

Jesse manages to struggle upright on their own, cheeks flushing faintly pink. "Um... I can- I can hold it for a minute."

They pause, shifting slightly and twisting their fingers. "I mean- I think I can."

"Okay. Give me a second to wrap this up and I can take you to the restroom."

The little human nods and pads outside to wait for him. Romeo's eyes go back to the screens, immediately noting that all five of the other lords are now staring at him.

"... who was that?" Mevia asks slowly. Her voice is calm, even, and yet deceptively tense.

"Long story short, we _did_ have a human come. But," Romeo pauses, pursing his lips together momentarily, "but they didn't actually make a wish."

Harper frowns, fingers pressing to her lips. "Humans can't come to Cosmos without making a wish, though. Or at least having a desire."

"Which is true. But apparently, when they were being asked by the October Children, they just said that it wasn't anything important and dismissed it. They decided to send them back, but... the portal shut before they could go through." Romeo presses his lips together again. "So they're here."

"So why haven't you eaten their heart?" That's Xara, her scowl back on her face. "Goodness knows you'd do something like that. And it's not like you don't have it."

Romeo lifts his fingers, Jesse's heart fading into existence above his palm. The rosy flower petals gleam in the darkness of his office.

Mevia straightens up a little at the sight of it, eyes widening slightly. "That's their heart?"

"Yep." Romeo glances at it, resisting the urge to put it to his mouth and crunch down on it like an apple.

Well... now he wants to do that. Fantastic.

"So why haven't you sent them back? Or eaten it?" Mevia's staring almost hungrily at the heart, which would make Romeo nervous if Sky City wasn't as far away from the Underneath as it is.

He shifts. "Their reaction was wrong."

Upon seeing the confused expression that flits across Harper and Ivor's face, he hastily continues. "I- they knew I had their heart, and I was basically threatening to eat it."

"Of course."

He shoots Xara a glare. "But... they didn't... respond the way most humans would. They- they just... dismissed it. Or- or not _dismissed_ it, but they didn't try to ask for it back or even fight me for it. They- they even said that it wasn't their place to decide what happened to it."

His brow furrows. "I think I could've bitten it right in front of them and they wouldn't have said anything."

Ivor is silent for a moment, before his voice comes back on. "So... you're keeping them here because..."

"Because it's _weird_. I don't know whether or not I want to eat their heart or not."

Romeo pauses, before correcting himself. "Well, I _know_ I want to eat it, but I don't know whether or not they might serve to be helpful or if there's just no point in it. I'd rather know what's going on first."

The lords are silent for a moment, before Ivor steeples his fingers and lets his brow furrow. "What if..."

Harper's eyes flicker to Ivor. He's silent for a moment longer, before he slowly resumes speaking. "What if we let them try to solve our issue?"

Xara gives a scoff. "A human? Solving _this_ whole issue? We're more likely to melt all the snow in Yurin than to have one human fixing an entire realm's problem."

"But what if we put the October Children on it? They're the best at what they do," Ivor continues, speaking slowly, carefully, crafting words and placing them carefully as he turns the idea around in his head. "But everyone knows about the October Children. The issue isn't going to get solved if everyone's guard is up- _including_ the one stealing the keys."

Ivor pauses and lets everyone reluctantly agree with that- the October Children are famous (or infamous, depending on your definition).

"But, let's say we put a human in the mix. A weak, powerless, defenseless human."

Romeo decides not to argue that he's not sure they're exactly _defenseless_.

"Now let's send out the October Children. What happens?"

"They get attacked a lot more," Mevia shoots out.

"Why?"

There is a longer pause here, before Romeo slowly speaks up. "Because... because it's a human. Humans are essentially delicacies here."

There's no skirting around the issue. That is basically what humans are in this world.

"Yes. Now, let's say the October Children repeatedly protect the human. Why? Orders, perhaps. Or maybe we can spread the rumor that it's a soft spot for the human."

Ivor raises one eyebrow. "What does that say about the October Children?"

"... they're busy." Understanding is dawning on Isa's face. "Even if the October Children are traveling with a human, they're working primarily on _protecting_ the human. Meaning they're not paying full attention to what's happening around them."

Xara's brow furrows. "But they are. They will. They _know_ what they're doing. A human wouldn't do much to hinder that-"

"Yes, we know that." Ivor tilts his head. "The question is, does the rest of Cosmos know that?"

A long, long pause as realization permeates the air.

And then Ivor breaks it.

"It is up to you, of course. You _are_ the one that formed contracts with them." He inclines his head at Romeo. "But it _is_ an idea that might help solve the issue."

Another long pause.

"I'll think about it." Romeo drums his fingers on the desk, vanishing Jesse's heart with a lazy flick of his fingers. "But, er, not right now."

Harper blinks at him, tilting her head at the slightly-younger lord and blinking red-and-gray eyes in surprise. "Why's that?"

"Well," and Romeo pushes his chair back and stands up, reaching up to turn the orb off and hang up, "I've got to take Jesse to the bathroom first."

* * *

 **A/N: Best place to end. xD**

 **So... unlike what I usually do... last night I planned out the entire plot of this story. And this plot point was "Skype call with other lords."**

 **I name plot points well xD**

 **This chapter ended up being longer (and this conversation as well), but some hints for future plot comes up, so that's nice.**

 **Responses to reviews xD**

 **Toni42: Yeee x3 / Ivor being a lord is fun. He's actually the oldest Lord (because magic is freaking cool). / Hehe, yeah xD / This is very fun xD**

 **Savannah-the-Caracal: I'm glad you like it! / The lore is fun but the map was not fun to make xD / That leadership is actually for a reason, but I'm not gonna say why until later xD / Hehe, yeah, he does like his garden xD / Well, the world's not going to be pleased about a human leading a demon city...**

 **TheAmberShadow: Ah, no, Lukas isn't using visual magic to see. He's basically just really good at illusions and stuff. Aiden's not particularly skilled at audio magic; he's just using it, and no, he doesn't have hearing problems. Magic's explained later on. / He's also, like, super old xD / Ah, yeah. I think I fixed it now but xD**

 **ChibotleKentucky: Heh, I don't know how I got any views or reviews in the first place so I cannot help you xP**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	8. Hallway

Jesse comes out of the bathroom with a faintly relieved sigh, the blade of the guillotine still embedded in the floor from their escapade of actually getting _into_ the bathroom.

(Suffice to say, it is certainly an event Jesse doesn't really want to repeat.)

Romeo, to their surprise, is still waiting outside the door. He looks up when they exit the restroom and uncrosses his arms, giving them a faint smile.

"I'll, uh," and he glances at the blade, which has actually cracked the tiled floor a bit from the force of it falling, before his eyes flicker to Jesse and he gives them an apologetic half-smile. "I'll get rid of it later."

Jesse gives him a tiny, tiny smile back. "I mean, it would be nice to use the restroom without worrying that I'm going to get beheaded in the process."

A bark of laughter from the demon lord as he flicks his fingers at the guillotine blade, making it slowly vanish from the bathroom entrance, although the cracks in the tile remain. "Yes, that's probably not something you want to do."

A soft giggle bubbles out of Jesse, who reaches up and covers their mouth for a moment to smother it. "No, being beheaded is not on my bucket list for life."

Romeo smirks. "I'd be concerned if it _was_ on your bucket list."

"I wouldn't blame you if you were." Jesse beams at him, still trying to smother their giggling fit. "But, um, thank you for showing me to the right bathroom. I probably would've died otherwise."

"I'm sure you wouldn't have _died_ , you probably would've..." Romeo pauses, eyes momentarily flickering to the ceiling as he reevaluates his statement. "Actually, never mind, you probably would've died."

Jesse can't help but dissolve back into giggles at the sheepish expression that follows the latter part of the statement. It's just not the expression you'd expect to find on a demon lord.

Or even just a regular lord.

When their giggles subside again, they tilt their head at him. "Sorry to interrupt your conversation earlier... I asked Lukas, Maya, and Gill, but they didn't remember where the not-booby-trapped bathroom was, so I figured..."

He shakes his head at them with a soft chuckle. If he finds it odd that they don't mention Aiden, he doesn't show it. "No, it's... uh... honestly, it's probably my fault for booby-trapping the toilets in the first place."

"Yeah, the first bathroom I went into was scary."

He gives another soft chuckle, giving them an almost absentminded pat on the head before beginning to walk down the hall. Jesse skips a few steps so they're walking next to him and not ten feet behind him. "My apologies, then."

Jesse hums mildly, folding their hands behind them. "No, 's fine. You, um..." They pause, before giving him "you put up your booby traps if you want to put up your booby traps."

The lord nearly _giggles_ at that, giving them a mischievous grin at the statement. "Oh? Put up as many as I want, then?" He taps his chin 'thoughtfully', raising his eyes to the ceiling, his grin only growing even bigger. "Say... a few in the bathroom?"

Jesse can't help but giggle more now, shaking their head. "Noooo, I meant-"

"Y'know, I always wanted to do something like that bucket of water on the door prank. Ooh," and his expression literally lights up as his eyes start glowing in slight (mischievous) excitement, "maybe- maybe the bucket of water could be lava."

Jesse's giggles have escalated to the point where they're nearly silent. "I- I don't think that'd be- I didn't mean-"

Romeo's tone is half-excited and half teasing when he speaks again, grinning down at them almost mock-evilly. "Ooh, or perhaps, perhaps I could put something really spooky where you least expect it," he muses quietly, lips falling into a thoughtful, almost quiet expression.

"... maybe in the wall... or the ceiling... or the _mirror_ -"

And he starts at them, hands put up as if to grab them, grab ahold of them hard enough to bruise _hurt them_ -

Jesse instinctively flinches, backing away a step and promptly running into a wall as their giggles cut off into a strangled whimper, trying to restrain the sound but only managing to muffle it, scrambling back as much as possible, pressing their back into the wall, swallowing the tears and shoving them _down down down-_

\- don't look upset- don't look afraid-

 _\- don't look anything-_

They clench their hands into little round fists, dig their nails into their palms to keep their hands from trembling ( _almost cry as they belatedly remember they skinned their hands earlier today while trying to keep up with Aiden but_ don't cry), swallow hard as they tilt their head back to look at Romeo.

He doesn't look angry.

He doesn't even look irritated.

Just confused.

Slowly, the demon lord edges closer to Jesse, leaning down a little bit so that he's not simply towering over them. His brow is furrowed slightly with confusion.

"Jesse?"

A few traitorous tears slip down Jesse's cheeks, their hand coming up so fast that they nearly hit themselves in the face and scrubbing their face clean of any salty liquid, although the tears that leak onto their palms sting the cuts and make them sting faintly with a vengeance. "I'm sorry."

Their throat is tight and choked with the effort of keeping tears from coming down their face, which isn't _working_ because they can feel more coming, and no matter how much they scrub and scrub and _scrub_ they're not going away-

A warm hand catches Jesse's as they reach up to rub away more tears and makes them jump a bit, almost automatically trying to wrench their hands out of Romeo's slender, scarred ones, but his grip is firm and keeps them from just jerking back out of his grip.

He's got tiny scars on his fingers that makes it look like he's gotten into a bar fight or something. Which is weird since he's a lord. Do demon lords get into bar fights? Do demon lords even go to bars?

Jesse only has a moment to think this before the demon lord speaks again, his voice surprisingly soft. "Don't do that."

He releases one of their hands and pokes their cheek gently, which feel raw and a little tender from Jesse rubbing their face so aggressively and makes a little tingly twinge go through their face.

They blink a few times, sending more tears down their face and making their cheeks feel a little weird in the process. "I'm- I'm sorry."

Well, wonderful, their voice is somehow even weaker than it was the first time they tried to speak.

"Why? You didn't do anything." Romeo releases their hand now, but he's still looking at them in a perplexed way.

His brow creases, and he looks almost apologetic a moment later. "Did I frighten you when I jumped at you? I didn't mean to." He gives his cheek an awkward scratch, still looking at Jesse with an apologetic expression. "My parents used to do that with me as a child."

And Jesse doesn't know why ( _well, actually, perhaps they do_ ) but their chest gives a tight, horrible squeeze at that, and they're suddenly reaching up with their hands to press over their eyes and try to contain something that cannot be contained, tears trickling down their cheeks and still making it feel bizarre, their breath catching in their chest as the next breath that makes it out of their mouth is a quiet sob.

Romeo is quiet. Jesse almost wants to remove their hands from their eyes to see why, but at the same time, they feel a wary terror throttling their chest and they're locked into the position anyway so they can't really look.

And then he's gently tugging them into a strange and rather awkward hug, pressing their face into his midriff while keeping one hand loosely pressed to their back and one hand tangling in their hair, hands being forced into a little bundle at their chest as their shoulders shake.

* * *

Okay.

Romeo's going to be the first person to admit that he has no idea why he's hugging Jesse now.

Especially since they're crying.

He's also the first person to admit that he doesn't like it when people cry ( _especially Xara or Fred, he's known them for so long that when they cry all he can feel is guilt_ ) and he tends to avoid them as though they have some sort of contagious disease that will kill him on the spot if someone is crying.

And yet here he is, gently pressing Jesse into a little awkward hug that's less of a hug and more like a weird resting position in the middle of the hallway, the small ( _small, small,_ very _small teenager that he still can't believe is seventeen_ ) person in front of him trembling uncontrollably with quiet cries that he can barely hear from where their head is leaning into his midriff.

In fact, he's pretty sure he's hugging them _because_ they're crying.

He doesn't really know why Jesse reacted the way they did. He doesn't like not being certain about things that he feels like he _should_ be certain about. It makes him feel itchy.

He doesn't like that.

( _He doesn't like the way they scrubbed at red eyes so harshly it looked like they were trying to break their own skin, rip it open, until he found himself with his hand shooting out to catch their wrist and keep them from continuing until they did break their own skin.)_

"It's alright," he tells them, trying to keep the awkward tone out of his voice. "You're alright."

Jesse stays pressed up against him, before slowly moving their arms so that they're no longer trapped in a little knot at their chest.

Their face is buried in his midriff, they're pressed up against him tightly enough that he can feel every tiny tremor that goes through their body, and now their arms are wrapped around him in a tight hug.

"'M sorry." Their voice is muffled and rather fragile, but he can still hear it.

(Perhaps that's due to the fact that he's just always had spectacular hearing. Whenever Xara used to shout it was like she blew out his eardrums.)

"It's okay."

( _Especially because he doesn't know what they're actually_ apologizing _for_.)

He gives Jesse another sort of weak squeeze, the teenager tightening their grip on him by such a miniscule amount that he can barely feel it.

Something's tickling the back of his mind- the way Jesse is quietly apologizing for something he's not entirely certain he knows about, automatically reaching out to hug them even though his first instinct when somebody begins to cry is to awkwardly fidget with his fingers and shuffle away, Jesse rubbing their face so hard that they look as if they're trying to prevent themselves from crying-

 _They're like Fred._

Tears spring to his own eyes, his chest giving a weak squeeze from the stray thought that flits through his head.

Perhaps not exactly- they're much shorter, and he doesn't know _what's_ going on in their head ( _unlike Fred, because he knew Fred like the back of his hand and he doesn't even know why Jesse's about half the size of a regular seventeen-year-old_ ), and he never really felt the urge to treat Fred like a small child, and he's pretty sure Fred was never this fragile-looking ( _or fragile at all, but then again Fred did have the ability to smile calmly about any and everything even when he could tell that his friend was trying not to cry_ ), but there are bits and pieces and fragments of Jesse that piece together weirdly to make some ( _very short_ ) part that's just a _lot_ like his dead friend.

"It's okay," he repeats, a lot lower this time, and he's not entirely sure that Jesse hears it until he feels them give him a very gentle little squeeze in return, still allowing their breath to catch in their throat and make little hiccuping cries bubble out of them.

He runs his hand through their fluffy hair ( _it really is fluffy_ ) in what he hopes is a comforting gesture, watching Fred ( _that's not Fred, not quite, but it's so very weirdly close that the thought barges in without his permission_ )- watching Jesse cry quietly into his robes and making the front of it quite damp, just quietly, quietly watching them while his mind clicks away like a frantic machine.

It's not Fred.

It's _not_.

 _And yet they feel so achingly similar that he can feel his chest start to hurt_.

He doesn't know why Jesse reacted the way they did.

He doesn't like that.

But he can't eat their heart, not in the least because it'd be like eating the heart of his ( _dead_ ) friend and the idea and the thought of it just makes bile rise up in his throat that he crushes down because... well, throwing up right now would just be a terrible idea.

Is that the only reason he doesn't want to eat it? No.

Is one reason that he wants to make up for what he did to Fred?

Perhaps.

Will this actually make up for what he did to Fred ( _to one of his best friends, someone who's dead now because he did something stupid and idiotic and absolutely moronic_ )?

Absolutely not. It will never make up for it. Nothing will ever even come _close_ to fixing what he did.

( _And if Xara doesn't let him forget it, he certainly won't._ )

But even if he can't pick out the reason, he just can't eat their heart.

And just like that, because of a stray thought that comes when Jesse reacts the wrong way again, Romeo makes his mind up about Jesse.

* * *

 **A/N: freaking angst guys**

 **I can't write angst and hurt and comfort, it's official xD**

 **Next chapter should actually be pretty fun! But we're not there yet.**

 **Well, either way, I hope you'll enjoy the chapter. ( _even though this chapter feels bad oh my lord_ )**

 **Romeo is introspective and Jesse cries a little. (And no. They're not explaining to Romeo. That's too big of a can of worms to open this early in the story.)**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Savannah-the-Caracal: I didn't say anything about the demons of Cosmos... xD / Hehe, I'm doing my best. / Indeed xD**

 **Toni42: Yes, Romeo ending with deciding to take Jesse to the bathroom xD / He IS the oldest, after all. / You get more of this this chapter xD / Jesse's not meeting the other lords 'til later, but yep! Other lords got some screentime. x3 / Perhaps she's not up to anything/ Lol xD / Footie pajamas are the best pajamas.**

 **MidnightLegend12: Romeo, actually. The lords are 'switched out', depending on what's happening, but that's a bit difficult to explain at the moment.**

 **TheAmberShadow: District. xD / Pffft xD / Perhaps, but it's the only plan they've got. / Hehe xD**

 **That's all for this chapter! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	9. Vessel

Jesse wakes up the next morning back in their bedroom, ensnared in the blankets with their eyes feeling slightly puffy.

They have a vague memory of Romeo scooping them up into a hug after some time without a word and carrying them for a bit, but they can't quite remember it because they were half-asleep and teary anyway and so they just let it go.

Well, they let it go until Gill sticks his head into the room and tells them that Romeo's called for all five of them to meet in his office quickly.

So now they're in his office again.

Aiden's drumming his fingers impatiently on his arm from where it's crossed, red eye staring intently at Romeo. Maya is just rubbing her eyes sleepily, while Lukas looks as impassive as usual ( _mainly because of the blindfold. It's pretty hard to read his expression sometimes_ ) and Gill just tapping his foot.

Romeo nods when they're all in the room, Kaster and Bedivire swinging the doors shut at the nod. There's the slithering of metal curling together as they lock the door.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet me this early in the morning." Romeo inclines his head at Jesse with a faint smile ticking onto his face, before giving his fingers a little quirk.

Jesse's heart fades back into view, and the demon lord shifts, resting his elbows on the table as all eyes flicker to the pink flower hovering in the air.

"Have you made a decision about their heart?" Lukas sounds faintly interested about this.

"Yes. I've decided to return Jesse's heart." Romeo lifts his finger before anyone can really react to the statement. "On one condition."

Honestly, since Jesse's done nothing except run around in the Underneath for a day or two and essentially be a trouble to everyone, Jesse thinks that's pretty fair, so they nod and shift a bit, looking at him earnestly. "Name it."

Romeo regards them for a moment, before giving a slow nod. "Alright. There's been some trouble around Cosmos lately, and I want you to help solve it."

"What sort of trouble?"

Aiden glances at Jesse out of the corner of his eye with a look they really can't read, which makes them a little nervous, but Gill speaks up before either the demon lord or Jesse can say anything else. "If it's about that issue, you don't need to explain the lord-baron-thing about Cosmos; we talked about it with Jesse yesterday after we overheard about the party."

Romeo hums, tilting his head at him. A faint smirk seems to quirk over his mouth. "Oh? You four are overachievers as always."

His gaze flickers to Jesse. "So they explained the districts and the lords and barons?"

Jesse nods, parroting back some of the main points. "Cosmos is divided into five districts; Narvid, Hizelk, Yurin, Enchantra, and Jupin. Each district is ruled by a lord, and there are safe paths with cities at the halfway point to mark the entry into a different district. Jupin is the center district, but it currently doesn't have a lord and so there's a lot of trouble there."

"Very good," Romeo compliments with a smile, allowing a tiny pleased feeling to flicker into their chest before he continues. "Normally, we lords don't bother with the intricate details of other districts and allow the lords to sort that out with the barons in district meetings, but since Jupin is in the center, it affects everyone."

A flicker of his fingers, and the map Lukas pulled up the day before appears. Romeo 'taps' the image, making it ripple as if a pebble was tossed into a pond. "But, the unrest in Jupin is only the problem on the surface."

The ripples clear to reveal a black door. The door has five keyholes in a shape that looks remarkably like the simplified map of Cosmos, the lock mechanism (Jesse assumes that's what it is, considering the keyholes are right where the capital cities would be) gray and dull. "Underneath Jupin, there's a door connected between Cosmos and your world, Jesse. However, unlike the portal that you came from, which opens every month in order to bring in humans to form contracts, beings with physical forms cannot pass through the door."

"What..." Jesse balks a little as they realize the sound bubbled out and interrupted Romeo, but when he nods at them encouragingly, they meekly continue. "... what does that mean?"

Maya hums, making them twist around to look up at her. "A physical form would be considered... a body." She taps her arm. "I would not be able to walk through the door. However, a ghost, a soul separated from the body, or a heart separated from its owner could potentially enter the door."

A brief, humorless chuckle from Lukas. "Don't think anyone would _want_ to."

"Why not?"

Romeo nods at Jesse, making them swivel back to look at him. "Within the door is another dimension, where negative energy from both worlds gather. About seven thousand years ago, according to history books, a large amount of negative energy accumulated." He glances at the door, lips twisting into a frown. "Because there was so much of it, it actually began to gain its own consciousness and piece together some semblance of a soul."

His eyes flicker back to Jesse, who's listening to this with rapt attention. "But, because it didn't really have a physical form of its own, the negative energy attempted to move to Cosmos to find a body.

"In order to protect Cosmos and the human world, the ancient demons removed the door from the human world, and locked the door in Cosmos to seal the negative energy inside the dimension within the door," and Romeo points at the lock.

"Interesting fact, remember yesterday we told you Ivor's the oldest current lord?" At Jesse's nod, Gill continues. "Ivor's actually one of the lords that helped seal the door."

Jesse's eyes grow rather large at that. "He's that old?"

Romeo gives a mild hum. "Yeah, he doesn't talk about that very much. Er, anyhow, that door is currently locked with five keys, and each lord has one key."

A pause. His expression grows more solemn, lips pressing together, and for a second Jesse wonders if he's about to cry.

And then it seals off.

"When Fred died, his key was stolen. Initially we thought it had been lost, but Isa, Mevia, and Harper reported that their key was stolen recently. This means that someone is trying to steal all of the keys and open the door."

The image dissipates as he levels an even stare at Jesse. "So, what I want you to do, Jesse, is to find who is up to this, and why they are trying to open the door."

Jesse blinks.

And then they blink again, an apologetic expression crossing their face.

"Ah, um... I'm sorry, I don't know if I could do something like that alone..."

"I never said you were going alone," Romeo replies smoothly, "those four are going along with you."

"I refuse," Aiden snaps back, making Jesse wince since he's two feet from them. "This doesn't have anything to do with us." He jerks his head at Jesse. "They're doing this to get _their_ heart back."

Romeo levels a humorless smile at Aiden. "Well, guess what? I refuse to accept your refusal. Even if Jesse wasn't here, I would've eventually ordered you to do this."

"But... are you only returning their heart to them upon completion of the task?" Lukas is frowning. "If that's the case, we'll only have about thirteen days before their heart disappears. I honestly don't think we'll be able to solve this whole thing in thirteen days."

"And giving their heart back to them now would basically be sticking a signpost on their head saying 'Eat Me'," Maya adds. "Even without their heart, they'd make a pretty good meal."

Jesse decides not to comment on that.

The demon lord actually perks up, giving them an almost bright smile. "Oh, yes. I actually figured out a way around that that'll give Jesse as much time as you need without basically turning them into a walking meal. Although, ah," and he gives a slightly more sheepish smile a second later, "preferably before all five keys are stolen."

His expression goes back to a blank one as he turns to look at Jesse. "Of course, that's primarily up to them to decide if they actually want to."

"'S only fair." Jesse shrugs, ignoring the way all expressions narrow a bit in confusion. "I'll do my best."

"Good. Work hard." Romeo claps his hands, giving his finger a beckoning curl in their direction. "Come closer for a moment; you're a bit too far for me to do this."

Jesse obediently shuffles closer. The demon lord surveys them, before snapping his fingers briskly.

A faint, pink glow effuses their heart, a sort of wispy glowing string forming between them and the heart. Jesse watches, vaguely fascinated, as the string slowly detaches from their chest and begins to wrap around the flower, writhing and curling into place slowly at first, before it moves faster, then faster, then _still_ faster.

Their heart is now rather painful to look at from the glow as the last bit of the string disappears into the whirling ball around Jesse's heart, before the glow... well, it's hard to describe, but it looks like it pops open.

For a moment, the glow slowly wriggles, changing gradually in something that actually looks like it has something like an actual shape.

And then the glow abruptly dissipates, a little pink pig with a funny, somewhat heart-shaped mark on its side plops onto the floor with a little oink.

Jesse's heart melts.

( _Not literally, of course._ )

Lukas's eyebrows are so high they're actually above the blindfold for once. "A vessel creature?"

Jesse scoops up the pig, which is just the right size for them to scoop up and hold him (it looks like a him) like a stuffed animal, giving him a ridiculously pleased grin. "Hi there."

He snuffles happily in their arms.

Aiden arches his eyebrow, his usual scowl fading to a look of interest. "Did you get the idea from Stella?"

Romeo shrugs. "Why mess with something that works?" He glances at Jesse, who looks very happy about the little pig they're holding. "That is your vessel creature."

"What's that?" Jesse would usually be listening incredibly closely, but they're a little more focused on scratching the little pig gently on the head.

"A vessel creature," Romeo begins, "actually acts as a separate, sentient vessel that contains a being's heart- think of it like a familiar, but holding your heart."

He pauses, almost considering what he's saying, before resuming slowly. "What the vessel creature does is actually mute the scent or... hm... _feeling_ your heart emits, thus making it seem like a normal pet or familiar, while also keeping your heart safe- most of the time vessel creatures are actually quite skilled in combat."

Aiden snorts.

"I said most of the time. Anyhow," he inclines his head at Jesse, "do be careful with it- if your vessel creature dies, you will also die."

Jesse gives a vigorous nod, going back to cuddling the tiny pink pig. The pig seems extraordinarily happy with this turn of events.

"Typically, the vessel creature will be one that most suits the personality of the person it is acting as a vessel for. Though, er," and Romeo gives a bemused smile as he glances over at where Jesse is now hugging the pig rather happily, "I've never seen one be a pig before."

Gill hums, crossing his arms with a frown. "Well, that does fix the issue. But I have no idea where to start trying to figure out anything about the person stealing the keys with the information we have."

Romeo gives an almost apologetic shrug. "I'd tell you more, but that's all we lords know ourselves."

"Fantastic," Aiden grumbles.

"Well," and several sets of heads turn to Jesse, who balks at the attention for a moment, before looking down at the pig, although still speaking as they rub his head with their thumb. "Isn't there that party in Yurin? And some lords are going, right?"

Maya nods, confirming the statement almost before Jesse even finishes. "Yeah, pretty much everyone except for the Narvid lord and barons, from the rumor."

"Well, if there's a party, then a lot of people are going to attend, or at least a fair amount. And if the lord of the north is hosting the party, wouldn't it be where the lord lives?"

"Logic does demand that, yes," Aiden almost drawls.

(Lukas frowns at him.)

Jesse ignores it for now, although their stomach does give a tiny twist.

"Well, if someone is trying to steal the keys, then the party would be a good chance to steal the key." Jesse notices some of the others pausing and nodding thoughtfully at this, but they continue anyway. "Not to mention, if other lords are attending, there's actually the possibility of being able to steal _more_ than one key."

Romeo's looking at Jesse with a careful look, which makes Jesse feel a little wary.

A moment later, he hums and nods. "Yes, that's strategically a good idea. It might be a good idea to head to the party, since it's apparently in another month or so."

At the looks he receives, he shrugs. "If the rumor's just now reaching here, Xara's not going to hold a party for another month. She's pretty busy. Not to mention she likes to plan fairly meticulously about certain things."

Jesse wonders how the heck he knows this.

"The problem is, we're going to need one of the other lords' help to get in the party, since we're not invited and I'm not really sure I'm comfortable with asking her if we can attend," Maya muses thoughtfully, tapping her cheek, before her brow furrows. "She's... _yeah_. She's pretty scary."

Lukas crosses his arms, tilting his head to one side and considering this. "Well... since Ivor's still looking for another lord, he might not necessarily be in Enchantra. I think we should head to Hizelk."

"That means a two-day journey, since traveling on the safe path means that you'll have to stop at Champion City before nighttime..." Romeo's brow furrows thoughtfully.

"It'll actually take longer, since we've got a human with us," and Aiden jerks his head at Jesse.

The pig oinks at him angrily.

Jesse would apologize, but Lukas is already waving it off. "Well, we'll figure something out for travel. We should pack some extra clothes and potions for the trip."

Maya nods again. "Sounds good. Let's get to it."

* * *

Romeo roams the hallways, still holding his spellbook.

He meant to give it to Lukas, but Lukas waved it off, saying that this investigation wasn't really the best time to be studying intricate magic, and Gill didn't really use magic anyway, and Maya said she'd probably lose the book ( _which was honestly true_ ), and Aiden was about as likely to need a magic book as Jesse's vessel creature.

And, as if he's spoken of the devil, he rounds the corner and finds Jesse sitting on the floor, rubbing the vessel creature's back. They're back in the clothes they've been wearing the whole time, which... makes sense, since he doubts they brought clothes with them.

(They can probably wear something of Maya's if the need comes. They're small.)

"Ah, Jesse."

Their head pops up. "Oh. Hi, Romeo." And they give him a shy little smile. "Whatcha holding?"

He glances at the spellbook. Then at Jesse, who probably can't do magic since they're a human.

 _Fred always liked magic._

"Do you want a spellbook?"

They blink at him. "Eh?"

He holds up the book. "I tried to give it to Lukas and Maya, but they didn't really want it. I figure at least one member of the team should have some kind of basic spellbook just in case something goes wrong."

"Oh, but I can't do magic..."

He waves it off. "You can just keep it on hand until someone else needs it. Besides, it makes for a fun read sometimes."

Jesse blinks at him again, before giving him a faintly bemused kind of smile and accepting the book of spells that he sets in their hands. (It's a surprisingly large volume, and he would've kept it if he didn't have another copy that Ivor'd sent him once as a gift.) "Um... okay. Thank you very much."

"Of course." And he slides down the wall to sit next to them, watching as Jesse struggles to fit the thing into their pocket before succeeding and returning to giving their vessel creature quite a bit of love.

He gives them a careful sort of smile as they pet the pig at their feet. "Have you named it yet?"

He remembers when Fred ( _his chest squeezes_ ) got a familiar that looked like a rather bizarre chicken and, to his and Xara's total bemusement (well, _his_ total bemusement and Xara's amusement), named it Waffles.

"Hm?" Their head pops up to make eye contact with him.

"Your vessel creature." The demon lord carefully gestures at the pig. "You name it yet?"

"Oh, yeah!" Jesse beams, scooping the pig up and giving him a gentle squeeze. The pig squeals happily, pressing his snout against Jesse's cheek.

"His name is Reuben."

* * *

 **A/N: No, Reuben's not gonna die in this. We have minimal character death.**

 **Minimal main character death.**

 **I think.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Toni42: Jesse's been with their legal guardian long enough to learn that sometimes those emotional extremes are actually very similar. And they've learned to let their fear control their actions pretty quickly. / Hehe xD / Yeah, uh, he'd be heartless if he did xD / He DOES act a bit childish xD / Ye :3**

 **TheAmberShadow: Nice pun xD / Yay xD / It's not necessarily parental, he's just... very, very careful. And also not sure how to act around teenagers and crying people, haha. / The Plan is in action.**

 **The Princess of Pink: Me too!**

 **MidnightLegend12: Hehe, yep xD / Aaah, thank you!**

 **That's it for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	10. Toll

**Possible Triggers:**

 **Blood/Gore** , _Death, Violence_

* * *

Jesse can't shake the feeling that someone's watching them.

The moment they step outside Romeo's spire, they can feel eyes burning into their back, but whenever they turn around, there is nobody there. Walking through cobblestone streets with Reuben keeping pace very easily at their feet, and Lukas being right next to them, they _know_ they should feel fine.

And yet someone is still watching them.

A couple times Jesse can find the culprits- demons with black hair and red irises that glance up at the human but lose interest upon realizing that the four half-demons are surrounding them.

But even their gazes don't feel like the one boring into them.

So perhaps they can be excused for feeling tense as they trek out of the gates to the Underneath, breaking onto the west path. The road is jet-black and made of bricks; Aiden's shoes actually sort of blend into them.

Jesse can't help but look at the trees in wonder around them; the trees are so much like the ones at home, except with dark orange or red leaves, grass and foliage littering the sides of the road they're walking on. The trunks are normal, too, excluding the occasional jet-black or white one that Jesse sees hiding behind the normal trees.

It's like walking through the forest at home, except on a paved road and perpetually feeling like the sun is setting even though it's not.

"Stay close, Jesse," Maya pipes up, making Jesse glance up and shrink a little closer to Lukas automatically. "It's kind of dangerous outside of town."

"Okay..." Jesse glances down at Reuben.

The pig gives them an encouraging oink and a grin, making their shoulders relax a little as they give a soft huff of laughter.

A moment later, they look back up at Lukas, whose head gravitates to them as they begin speaking again. "Hey, I've been wondering... why does everyone in this world wear black or red?"

"That's because-"

Lukas stops. In fact, the entire group stops, Aiden freezing dead in his tracks with Maya and Gill coming to a halt behind Jesse, inching a little closer to the teenager.

"Jesse, stay back."

Jesse turns to look at Lukas, whose voice has dropped an octave in warning. "Wh-?" they begin, but Aiden, who is standing in front of them, gives a tiny, tiny, nearly imperceptible shake of his head, so Jesse falls silent.

A moment of utter silence, nothing except the sound of the breeze ruffling the leaves in the air.

And then a demon materializes ahead of them, dark hair almost hiding his cruel red eyes as he tilts his head at them almost mockingly, fingering the red-stained blade in his fingers.

"Well, well, hello there... where are _you_ going?"

Nobody responds.

Maya and Gill have slowly shifted position so that Jesse is standing off to the side and just behind them, looking up at the other four's stony expressions.

The demon apparently didn't expect them to answer, anyway, because he continues a moment later. "If you want to go past this place, then you have to pay."

Jesse blinks.

A toll?

No, no it's not a toll. The man's clothing is too clumsy and hodgepodge to be anyone official.

A robber, then?

"Oh?" Gill shifts, resting his hand on his hip almost cockily, tilting his head at the demon ahead of them and blocking the path. "That's the first time I've heard of that."

Aiden speaks up now, almost mildly, except Jesse can see (even through his jacket) the way his shoulders are slightly tensed. "What if we don't want to pay?"

"Well, then..."

Another demon steps in, wild hair peeled back from his face to reveal a smug expression and bright red irises. In his hand is a short spear, thankfully not stained red like the first demon's blade. "We'll just force you to. We're pretty strong, ya know?"

Aiden's mild tone shifts into a chuckle. Even from where Jesse is, they can see a strange smile curling his lips up. "Oh...? Pretty strong, you say?"

Lukas gives a light hum, casually pushing his hands into his pocket and tilting his head at them. He's got the same strange smile on his face. "Allow us to be the judge of that."

"Don't hold back," Maya says, in a sweet, sweet, somehow sickeningly sweet tone that Jesse hasn't heard her speak in before and that makes Reuben oink softly.

Gill gives his own chuckle, crossing his arms. "Don't back down now, hehe."

Their tones of voices, and the way the four of them are now _smiling_ , sends chills down Jesse's spine.

Slowly, very slowly to avoid attracting attention, Jesse follows Lukas's instruction from before and gradually backs away into the tree line, Reuben snuffling and slowly following.

"Hm. So you want to do it that way?" the first demon asks, cocking his head at the four half-demons as his expression hardens into a cold glare and apparently having not noticed Jesse sliding back into the treeline.

And then he raises his sword and points at the four of them.

"Get them!"

About twenty shadowed figures shoot out of the trees, rushing at the four half-demons like a wave of darkness.

Aiden steps forward, flipping out what looks like a dagger with a tiny, blunted blade as one demon with a knife pelts at him.

He flicks his wrist.

Instantly, the blade shoots out, and then another, and then another, tapering in size until it ends in a tiny bladed tip, all of them catching as a whip connects the small blades together at long intervals, blocking the knife of the other demon before he brings it back around, slicing into the demon's torso and ripping it open, blood instantly spilling onto the ground.

Jesse muffles a scream.

Aiden spins on his heel, still in the first attack as his attacker collapses facefirst, blood pooling around him, and swings up, the blades knocking the knife of another attacker back, and then slashing back down to rake open the man's throat, blood spurting and splattering his jacket before he spins right back around at another attacker that is a good distance away, whip flicking up into the air-

It glows.

He brings it down, sending a wave of explosions in its path that _crushes_ the demon approaching him, splattering blood and Jesse's _pretty_ sure that those are brains across the ground in a smear, Jesse covering their mouth and pressing their back into a nearby tree as the scent of blood begins permeating the air as the overwhelming urge to vomit surges into their throat.

Another spin and a flick of the whip knocks another attacker onto his face, unharmed-

And then Aiden lifts his foot and crushes the attacker's throat with a harsh stomp, blood spurting out like a broken water fountain as he smiles coldly down at them.

One attacker balks at the sight of her comrades dying in less than four seconds, before Maya clubs her into the air with a long black-and-white staff that Jesse doesn't see her withdraw.

Without even turning around, Maya jabs the staff backwards, slamming into an attacker's gut, before she spins on her heel and smashes the staff down with immense force, shattering the demon's skull and smearing the black and white with blood.

A twirl of the staff, and the attacker who Maya clubbed into the air first is forced to the ground, the attacker's dagger remaining spinning the air for a second, before the end of the staff hooks it and flies down-

The blade stabs right through the demon's heart.

Yet another attacker pelts at Lukas, who just stands, hands still in his pockets-

Jesse spots the glint as his hands whip out of his pockets before his attackers do.

The first attacker is raked across the eyes with the bladed claws that are now on Lukas's hands, before the claws puncture the demon's throat and Lukas throws them into the trees on the other side of the road, already ducking under the sweeping blade from behind.

A backwards slash, and the demon's intestines are jerked out of his body and spill onto the floor, the demon letting out a choked gurgle of surprise before toppling backwards, blood staining the road beneath him.

Lukas skips lightly as another demon bolts at him, dodging out of the way, before one clawed hand curls around the attacker's shoulder, claws digging into skin, and-

Lukas comes back around and shoves his hand with enough force that the claws puncture straight through his back and out the front of his chest, blood staining the metal claws.

A deafening blast goes off, and Jesse's head snaps to Gill in time to see him holding a smoking gun, firing off two more shots that go through the heads of two demons, crumpling to the floor as blood pours from the holes in their heads.

Gill points the gun over his shoulder and shoots again, the shot sending a spray of scarlet blood into the air from the demon's chest, before he grabs a charging attacker and spins around so that he's holding them but behind them.

A sharp motion, and the attacker goes flying into the air. There's barely time for a yelp before Gill twirls his gun so that the muzzle of the gun faces up at the attacker-

Blood splatters the ground as the body hits the ground several feet away, the blast still ringing in Jesse's ears before Gill leaps up and shoots several more times, each blast making Jesse's ears ring.

Reuben gives a worried squeal at where Jesse's face has gone so pale it's nearly white, watching the four half-demons skip and dodge and spin around their opponents in a deadly, weapon-enhanced, violent dance, ignoring the pools of dark blood that reflect the clouds and trees above.

So, so much blood.

The demon with the spear shrinks back, trembling like a leaf with wide eyes. "O-oi, boss... these guys couldn't be _them_ , could they?"

"Don't- don't be ridiculous," the boss splutters, although his expression is also wide-eyed, "there's no way we'd run into them!"

"B-b-but there's four of them! Three guys and one girl... the-the ones who arrived in October and wiped out the rebels..."

None of this conversation is making sense to Jesse. None of this is making any sense to Jesse past the fearful fog in their mind.

"I'm- I'm getting out of here!" And the demon with the spear starts sprinting away, his boss spinning to him with gritted teeth and fear in his own eyes.

"Hey! Don't run!"

Jesse sees the motion Aiden makes before anyone else does.

The whip, blades stained with blood and dripping with so much gore and red that Jesse almost swears that they were red in the first place, flickers up in a deadly, singing path.

Jesse closes their eyes before they can see it make contact.

But they can't stop themselves from hearing the sickening sound of blades slicing into flesh, nor the two separate thuds as the corpse falls to the ground, followed by the head.

 _Oh my god._

"Don't run..." Jesse almost shivers as they open their eyes, eyes briefly alighting on the beheaded corpse before forcing themselves to stare at Aiden, who's smiling in an almost sadistic way. "Didn't you say that you guys were 'strong'? If so, then stay, and let's play a little longer."

A strange, dark chuckle that makes chills grip Jesse's heart even tighter.

"It's been so long since the last time we came out."

Rough hands suddenly seize Jesse's arms and pin them behind their back, yanking them up against a warm body. They automatically give a choked scream.

Instantly, the four of them all spin to face Jesse, three sets of eyes widening with blood and gore and _who knows what else_ on their faces, on their fronts, on their hands, on their weapons.

The hands tug Jesse even closer, a pleased voice purring above their head. "Oh? I was _wondering_ why this one wasn't fighting. It looks like they're a human. For you four to be protecting a human..."

A low, almost hypnotizing chuckle. "I guess they must be pretty important. If you don't want me to kill them... then do as we say."

Jesse's head is spinning. The cologne the demon is wearing is overpowering and so strong that Jesse's getting dizzy. Reuben's squealing up a storm, running in circles near their feet.

Kill them?

Blood.

Blood everywhere.

Blood and cologne and everything is spinning and this is just all way too much.

The boss grins as Jesse looks up, the four of them evaluating the situation in front of the robber as he chuckles. "Ohh, good job!" His eyes flicker to the four half-demons, who are staring at Jesse, his voice growing more commanding. "Drop your weapons, October Children. Better hurry unless you want to lose the human."

* * *

"... oi, guys." Maya's voice is soft, quiet enough that she's sure that neither the demon holding Jesse or the robber behind them can hear. "This is pretty bad, isn't it?"

"Yeah... should we save them, or just let them die?" Gill whispers back, although even he looks reluctant about the idea of just letting Jesse die.

Partially because of Romeo's orders, but partially because they are small and tiny and somehow it just seems wrong to.

Lukas is giving his head a nearly imperceptible shake. "No. Romeo's not just doing this to solve a problem. And it's not just for entertainment, either. Something made him change his mind, and I don't know what it is, but something tells me he won't be pleased if we just let Jesse die."

He pauses, considering the situation, before he whispers again. "Besides... this is a pretty big issue. We haven't been following his orders properly lately."

Aiden speaks up, his own voice soft. "He let it slide since it wasn't anything big, but if we keep this up, he's free to kill us whenever he wants."

"What are you doing? Hurry up. Or do you not care about the human?"

The boss's voice breaks in, making Lukas's head jerk around to glance at him.

There's a short pause, before Aiden tsks his tongue again. "Lukas, you're the fastest among us. You save Jesse. The rest of us will cover you."

Lukas gives a nearly imperceptible nod. "Got it."

And then the incubus ( _because that is an incubus, with a lean form and a husky voice and that charming, charming smile that would be so effective if they weren't in battle_ ) holding Jesse speaks up in, making the four of them look up.

* * *

"Oh... now that I look closer..." The demon behind Jesse leans in, hot breath tickling their ear as his voice purrs gently. "You're not so bad."

Not so bad? What does that mean?

"Perhaps we could have some fun and then sell you..."

Have some fun...?

" _Aren't you having fun?_ "

The demon's hand reaches up, tracing a warm path up Jesse's side that makes chills shoot down their spine.

" _I want to stop._ "

Slithering around their front, hands still keeping their arms trapped against their back.

" _It's a bit too late for that._ "

His hand undoes the overall strap.

Jesse's eyes widen as something manages to pierce the dull, dead, choking fog that is throttling their thoughts.

Their foot automatically stamps down on the instep of the demon's foot, and at the same time, Reuben launches into the air with an angry squeal and slams into the demon's face, his grip automatically loosening with a startled grunt and allowing Jesse to jerk themselves free and whip around, panic clouding their mind, _get him to go away_ -

They kick upwards with as much force as they can.

The demon lets out a squeak that goes four octaves higher than his voice was before, eyes going wide as he hunches over and protectively covers his crotch to avoid Jesse kicking it again, effectively bending down.

 _Go away go away go away-_

Jesse wildly hauls their arm back and slams it into the demon's face, knocking him back into a tree, where he slides down from where he's been knocked out before falling flat on his face.

There is a moment of stunned silence as Jesse shakily stares at him.

He's gone?

He's not moving.

Well, he's breathing.

They think.

And then a muffled laugh.

Jesse spins to see the four half-demons dissolving into laughter. "Did- did you see that?" Aiden gasps, giggling so hard he looks like he might cry.

"They- they actually just kicked in an incubus's dick..." Gill is cackling and pointing at the fallen demon behind Jesse.

"And then- and then took him out in one- one punch," Lukas titters past near-hysterical giggles.

Maya nods through her laughter, wiping her eyes. "How pathetic..."

Jesse steps back from the four of them, shaking their head and feeling tears build up in their eyes. "Stop- stop laughing," they whisper weakly, over the uproarious laughter from the four of them. "I- I was being attacked and- and you guys were killing people and- and now- now you guys are just laughing about it-!"

"Sorr- sorry," Lukas chuckles, "it seems you're more interesting than we thought, but..."

He dissolves back into laughter.

Gill keeps giggling as well, shaking his head. "Oh, this is killing me..."

"Jesse's amazing, aren't they?" Maya titters.

" _IT'S NOT FUNNY!_ "

Their laughter dies.

Jesse is shaking so badly that everything is blurry, which isn't helped by the fact that tears are building up in their eyes and making everything even blurrier.

Reuben whines and presses his face up against their leg as they shiver, icy fingers clinging to them.

The sickening sound of shoes splashing through blood, before Lukas's face swims into clearer view, blindfold covering most of his face as he reaches up to take Jesse by the shoulder. "Jesse...?"

They flinch away from him, breathing speeding up. "Don't- don't touch me-" Jerky words tear themselves out of their throat, clogged with fear and bile and _oh my god there's so much blood_ -

He shifts back, almost in surprise, before reaching up slowly again.

Jesse shakes their head, breathing growing even faster as they squeeze their eyes shut.

And then they pop open immediately, scared that something is going to pop out the second their eyes are shut. "Don't- n- no- aaa- aaaaaah-"

Aiden regards the quaking Jesse from several feet away, before humming, simply tilting his head. Or, well, it's hard to see through the blur, but it looks like he does so. "Well. We do still have unfinished business, after all."

The boss steps back, eyes widening at his words.

Jesse looks at him just in time to see a sword burst through his chest, a scream freezing in their throat as Lukas spins to look over his shoulder and check what Jesse's looking at.

The boss is frozen there for a moment, before the golden blade that is through his chest jerks back and he falls onto his face, blood pooling around him.

A demon woman with short, choppy red hair seems to replace him, regarding the group through red irises.

Her black and red striped bandana matches the black shirt with two bold red stripes and the black shorts that are edged in red that she's wearing, under a red-tinted vest. Her left shoulder has a red metal shoulderplate, and black fingerless gloves stretch up past her elbow. Black boots with red laces match the general theme for shoes that Jesse's seen with some of the others.

Jesse's not sure what they expect through the haze of fear in their head. Perhaps for another bloody ( _oh god, more blood,_ more _blood_ ) fight. Perhaps threatening words.

What they don't expect is for Lukas's face to break into a grin and for the blonde half-demon to turn around, walk over to her, and wrap the woman in a tight hug.

"Showed up just in time to help claim the prize, huh, Petra?"

* * *

 **A/N: Well, this chapter is nice and traumatic for Jesse xD**

 **But yay, Petra!**

 **But, uh, next chapter's going to be interesting.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Savannah-the-Caracal: Yes, although if Jesse were to get hurt, Reuben wouldn't experience the same injuries- although he would experience their pain. However, if Reuben gets hurt, Jesse suffers the same injuries _and_ the same pain.**

 **TheAmberShadow: Yeah, pretty much. / Yes, but they don't know that xD / Yep! / xD / What did you expect was gonna happen? xD**

 **Toni42: Hehehe xD / This chapter was... not cute, but whatever xD / Well, he's not gonna let them sleep in the hallway xD / Hehe xD / True, I thought it was a fun idea xD / Spellbook is important later on but not now xD / No; the others are still alive and scattered around Cosmos. Ivor just happens to be super old.**

 **That's about it! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	11. A New Party Member

'Petra', apparently, breaks into a grin and gives Lukas a tight hug. "Hey, Lukas. How you doin'?"

The blonde squeezes her and releases her a moment later, shifting and resting a hand on his hip with a huge grin at Petra. "Pretty good. Could've used you a minute earlier."

She rolls her eyes teasingly at him, sheathing the gold sword without even wiping off the blood. "Oh, you know me. Just passing by."

Aiden shakes his head, a huge smile creeping over his lips. "You bitch. Quit showing up at the last minute."

He gives her a friendly slug on the shoulder and pulls her into a quick, rough hug. "Good to see you."

"You dick, stop getting taller. Gill's the only one that's allowed to beat me," is her cheerful response as she punches him on the shoulder, before she gives the other male demon a mischievous smile. "Hey, Gill. You still denying your crush on Maya?"

Both Maya and Gill turn pink. If Jesse was in any mood to appreciate it, they would laugh. As it is, all they can do is shiver.

"I don't have a-"

"Petra, I think you're going crazy-"

"He's a complete asshole-"

"She's a crazy bitch-"

Petra smirks at the two spluttering demons and turns to Lukas casually, ignoring the fact that the other two are basically pomegranates at this point. "You guys certainly haven't gotten rusty."

He gives her a smirk, tongue poking through his teeth. "You certainly haven't gotten any less late," he replies in the same tone she just used, tilting his head. "Can't imagine Ivor's that pleased about it."

She shrugs. "Eh. He's pretty much letting me roam around wherever I want, anyway. I just gotta go whenever he calls me."

She lifts her hand and tugs her glove down enough to reveal the hint of a tattoo. "It's not often, anyway."

"Still." Aiden is still smirking as he socks her back on the shoulder. "Could've used some extra manpower."

"Heh, you guys had it handled anyway." She grins at them, before glancing at Jesse, who's watching with wide, green eyes from several feet back.

Her smile fades, replaced with surprise.

"Is that...?"

Her boots clop through blood ( _Jesse forces down a whimper_ ), and she's suddenly kneeling in front of Jesse, leaning forward and regarding them with fascinated red eyes.

Jesse twists their head away a little bit, swallowing hard, but not removing their eyes from her as little shivers go down their spine.

Just in case.

"Holy shit." Petra doesn't hide the fact that she's staring unabashedly at the tiny human teenager in front of her. "You guys are traveling with a _human_?"

"Yeah, uh..." Lukas scratches his cheek, giving the redhead an awkward smile. "Romeo's orders."

"Huh."

Petra regards them for a moment longer, her red eyes flickering over their pale face, fluffy hair, the pig reassuringly rubbing his face against their leg, before her hand moves-

"Don't- don't come closer-!" Jesse chokes out, backing up and staggering as their foot snags the incubus's body, back thudding into a tree without slowing down. "Aaa- aaaaaah-"

Petra's expression changes- into one that is remarkably like sympathy or even _worry_ , but Jesse doesn't have enough time to really look at it as they keen frailly before she glances at the corpses littering the road not twenty feet away.

She's quiet for a moment, before looking up at the four half-demons. "Let's just get them out of here for now."

"What?" Aiden asks, looking vaguely confused, but Petra's already speaking again.

"You guys... well, you took care of those guys, but you also made it a bloodbath." She jerks her head at the twenty-or-so corpses that are littering the ground, soaking the road coppery red and saturating the air. "Pretty sure humans aren't used to seeing that much blood. Let's get them out of here."

Lukas nods and goes over to scoop Jesse up-

Jesse shivers violently, shrinking away from him. "Don't- don't- don't don't- no- nonono-" They shake their head, tears trailing down their face.

His lips part to reveal his teeth, lips tilting down at the ends. Part of Jesse feels like he's crestfallen, and they can feel guilt twisting their stomach at that.

And the other part can only see the blood splattered on his orange shirt, the blood smeared on his lower jaw, the fact that his hands are stained red, don't hurt me, don't kill anyone else _please_

Petra regards the human, before reaching out and scooping Jesse up easily, since they're so small.

Jesse squirms, trying to get out without shoving her or landing on the ground, which has stains of red smeared on the grass from the demons walking back and forth through the pools of blood, breathing growing more ragged. "N-no- no- nnnn- no- aaah-"

"It's okay, it's okay." Lukas's voice is soft now, one hand gently resting on their back- Jesse tries to twist away- he keeps his grip securely on them so they don't just flop out. "It's alright, we're just going to move off elsewhere for a bit, okay?"

Jesse shakes their head, tears coming down their face, knowing that blood is smearing on their clothes, all down their back. "No- no- s-stop-"

"Stop crying. We're leaving. You don't have to see all the bad blood in a second." Aiden's voice cuts through the haze of fear in their head, sounding rather irritated.

Jesse abruptly clamps their mouth shut, a cry dying in their throat.

Don't cry.

Don't cry.

 _Don't cry._

They stop writhing and go still, enough for Petra to stand up, pressing the side of their head into her shoulder in such a way that all they can see are the trees off to the side.

"You don't see anything?" Lukas leans around to check Jesse, still sounding slightly crestfallen ( _their gut twists deeper_ ).

"N-no," they manage through the lump in their throat. "Just- just trees."

He nods and glances up at Petra. "Nearest safe area?"

"You're actually not that far; there's a resting spot around a bend about twenty minutes away."

Petra starts walking, Jesse's head pressed into her shoulder as they bob up and down from the walk. Her boots clomp through the blood, making little wet sounds that send a chill up their spine, but they don't dare whimper or cry out again, not after Aiden's comment, not after that.

The sound of weapons whispering signals that they've put their weapons away, even as the wet footsteps slowly turn to dry ones as everyone continues walking.

There is nothing but silence. The whispering wind seems sinister rather than calming now. The eerie black trunks of the trees around them jump out from the normal brown ones, even as the only sound in the air is the soft sound of the wind and footsteps as they move farther and farther away.

And the itching, burning feeling of eyes still boring into Jesse's back.

* * *

Petra sets a sleeping human down on the floor gently, making sure not to jolt them awake. The human's been quiet for the entire twenty-minute walk, even though she could feel them trembling from where she was hugging them close enough that she could've rested her chin on their head if she wanted to.

And then they lift their head to look at her, making her blink in surprise. Apparently they haven't been asleep.

"Will that happen again?"

Maya and Gill look up; this is the first time anyone's spoken for the past twenty minutes. Lukas's head lifts to look at them, and even Aiden looks up from where he's cleaning his whip. "Hm?"

Petra notes with amusement that the four of them chime that in complete unison.

"Will... will that..." Jesse gestures weakly at the direction they came from. "Will that happen again?"

"Oh. Yeah." Gill gives a nonchalant shrug. "It'll probably happen again. Many times again."

Maya gives Jesse a slightly apologetic smile. "Yeah... fights like that aren't at all rare in Cosmos. Though, um, I guess we did go a little overboard." She stretches, lacing her fingers behind her head. "It _has_ been a while since we've actually done any combat."

Petra glances at the human, who's taking this in quietly.

Their pig snuffles and noses his way into their arms, which they gladly scoop him up into and press their cheek to the top of his head. "I- I see..."

Aiden grunts. "Oh yeah. You asked why everyone in our world wears black or red or a shade of that sort, yeah?"

The human bobs their head up and down. "Yeah..."

"The reason for that is because blood stains aren't as visible on black or red clothes," Aiden replies, and okay, Petra knows _she's_ blunt, but _damn_.

She scratches her cheek and gives the human a slightly sheepish smile, the human lifting their head to look up at her. "It... would sort of be a pain to constantly change or wash out the stains."

The human is quiet, although Petra does notice their face going the tiniest shade paler. "... so that's the reason...?"

Aiden grunts assent.

Petra turns back to the human, giving them an encouraging smile and sticking out her gloved hand. No sense in being rude. "Hi. My name's Petra. I'm one of Ivor's contracted humans."

The human blinks at her, before shakily holding out one hand and giving her hand a squeeze and a little shake. "So- so you're in Enchantra most of th' time?"

She shrugs. "Yeah, but Ivor gave me the option of going to him when he summons me, since he doesn't really have me do much except help out. So I tend to be wherever in Cosmos."

"Oh, I see..." They give her a tiny, if rather shy smile. "Um... thank- thank you for getting me out of there." They pause, before their cheeks pink and they huddle deeper into the hug with the pig. "I... nn... I didn't expect..."

Petra huffs, sitting back and crossing her legs absentmindedly. "You didn't expect fights in Cosmos to be that bloody?"

Jesse gives their head a little shake. "I didn't expect _any_ fight to ever be that bloody."

Lukas huffs a laugh himself, making Jesse look over at him. He seems to be cleaning those claws he likes to use in combat. "Don't worry, we weren't expecting it ourselves when we first started training. You should've _seen_ Petra when Ivor gutted a demon who was trying to kill her."

Gill giggles at the memory. "Oh _man_. She just turned this weird shade of green."

"Did not."

"You really did, Petra, I honestly thought you were changing into a swamp monster."

"Yeah, don't get me started on Aiden seeing it," Maya chuckles. "Romeo was talking to Ivor and some demon tried to rob them and he just-" She mimes a little exploding hand motion. "Blood all over the floor."

"Ooooh, yeah, he threw up right on Isa's shoes."

Aiden makes a face. "Yeah, at least she was pretty okay with it, surprisingly."

"Honestly, I think she was more worried that you were sick or something than about her shoes." Lukas shrugs, giving Aiden a smile. "They were boots, anyway."

Jesse pipes up now, looking faintly interested despite the very gorey details. "You guys get trained together...? Do all contracted humans get trained together, then?"

"Nope. Not enough humans come to all get trained together."

"Well, _technically_ , this is actually the most active year for contracted humans or humans coming in twenty years at _least_ for all of the lords," Maya pipes up. "For the past twenty years, humans traveling into Cosmos has become _very_ rare, and... honestly, nobody knows why."

Petra nods, before looking at Jesse. "But we all came this year- I came in August, and they came in October."

"Oh..." Jesse purses their lips slightly, looking up at the sky, before back at Petra. "Is that why those raider people called the four of them the October Children?"

"I hate that name," Aiden grumbles in response.

Petra chuckles. "Yep. I think I got a nickname as the August Girl, but I'm not really sure, since it's not like they say the name in front of me."

"Plenty of people like to say _our_ name in front of us," Gill shrugs.

"Well, it's a lot easier to call us by a common nickname than go 'you four half-demons that Romeo contracted'," Maya points out.

Petra gives a lopsided grin. "Since Ivor and Romeo figured it'd be best to give us as much training as possible, they both trained us all at the same time, so we're pretty tight with each other. Ivor's all the survival and magic, and Romeo's like... some magic and lots of combat."

Jesse hums, thumbing the corner of their mouth. Petra can tell they're still trembling, if the way the pig looks like he's on vibrate is any indication, but it seems to be calmer. "Oh, I see..."

She nods back at them, somewhat restraining the urge to ruffle their (very fluffy-looking) hair. "You okay?"

"Mm?"

"You were all shaky earlier." Petra decides not to point out the fact that they're _still_ all shaky, albeit looking a lot calmer.

Jesse looks down at the pig, who presses his nose into their cheek. They gladly heft him up before lifting their head and giving them all a rather frail sort of smile. "Well... i-if you guys all got used to it after only being here for a few months, then... I-I guess I'll be able to handle it better after a while, too."

Gill looks like he wants to give them an encouraging slap on the back, but being ten feet away, he gives a thumbs' up and a grin. "That's the spirit."

Petra gives another nod at the response, a little bit in approval and a little bit in simply acknowledging the response, before plopping down into a seat next to Jesse and looking up at the October Children. "So, whatcha doing escorting a human, anyway? Are they a new contract?"

Lukas stands up, stowing his claws away. "Jesse, you wanna see some illusion magic?"

"Eh? Oh," and Jesse blinks at him, scrambling to their feet with their pig still in their arms. "Sure."

A tiny smile quirks across Lukas's face, Petra feeling a moment of relief from him before he clops over to a corner of the safe area. "C'mon, it's a bit darker over here, so I don't have to do as much magic to darken it..."

"Okay."

Petra watches them go, before looking expectantly at the remaining October Children.

Aiden doesn't say anything, so Maya sighs and begins, leaning forward and using her hands to gesture. "So, Romeo had us ready to see if any humans with a desire came..."

* * *

Maya is a good explainer, and not ten minutes later, Petra's cleaning Miss Butter with a frown on her face. "So you're saying... Romeo's having Jesse help fix the issue?"

"Who knows why, but yeah," Aiden nods, finishing cleaning his whip and flicking all of the blades back into the handle easily. "So we're basically babysitting a human."

"I dunno, they had the incubus handled," Petra murmurs back teasingly, which makes Gill snigger and even Aiden crack a smile.

Maya hums a laugh, glancing over at where Lukas is holding out a hand and making little drops of water travel around his hand, which Jesse is watching with wide eyes and a surprised smile on their face. "Well, Lukas seems to like 'em."

"Lukas likes everyone," Aiden mumbles dismissively, which makes Petra flicker red eyes to him for a moment- he's usually not as cynical about people.

"Well, yeah, but he seems pretty cheerful lately," Gill amends the statement, leaning his cheek on his hand.

Petra glances back at where Lukas is now holding what looks like a fish made of water, Jesse poking their finger into it curiously.

He _does_ have a rather large smile on his face.

She surveys Maya's blood-smeared staff, Gill reloading the handgun, Aiden absentmindedly spinning his whip in the air.

"... how about I go with you guys?"

Immediately, all of them look up at her, Aiden's slightly dark expression clearing, while Maya and Gill's eyes widen.

"Oh, you don't have-"

"We couldn't-"

"You'd-?"

Petra shrugs, giving a particularly stubborn stain on Miss Butter a scrub. "Eh, why not. If you're trying to work on the issue, Ivor's probably going to ask me to help later."

"It's always a second thought for you to do anything. I think he just contracts humans because he likes them," Gill hums thoughtfully, scratching his beard.

Petra rolls her eyes and flips her short hair. "Well, I _am_ very awesome."

This raises a round of titters, but she shrugs and leans back. "But anyway- if Ivor's going to ask me to work on the issue too, I might as well join in now. Plus, the human's pretty damn tiny for seventeen and we don't need them up and dying on the spot if we're trying to fix the issue. More brains are better than less."

Aiden reaches into his pocket, rummaging around as if looking for something. "If you're going to help, we should pay you-"

"No, taking your money feels like a dick move for something Ivor's eventually going to have me do anyway," Petra waves it off. "Plus, if we're solving the issue, money _does_ help some demon's tongues loosen."

"As does the threat of a knife to the tongue," Gill murmurs.

Petra smirks slightly. "I'm all for violence usually, but I don't really think traumatizing the human would be a good move."

"Traumatizing the human would be a very bad move, as I would promptly kill you afterwards," Lukas calls back, making Jesse give a slightly nervous laugh as they continue poking through the water fish, looking rather fascinated by it and also a bit nervous that Lukas is being serious.

"There we go."

* * *

 **A/N: Petra joins the party!**

 **Yay, there'll... probably be more violence later but whatever xD**

 **Responses to reviews! (Well, review.)**

 **Toni42: The others got used to that xD / Yep, but they're hiding it well now xD / Hehehe xD / Take that Aiden, told you vessel creatures are good at combat xD / Ye :3**

 **That's about it. See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	12. Travel Arrangements

"Um..." Jesse jogs several feet to keep up with the other five half-demons, having departed the rest area about two hours previously and already looking a little out of breath to keep up with the five much-taller people around them. "I don't mean to sound impatient or anythin', but how much longer do we have to walk before we get to Champion City?"

Petra glances down at Jesse, lips twisting in discomfort.

She's not a big fan of Stella.

"At this pace... maybe about a day?" she muses, the (somehow) seventeen-year-old managing to keep pace, along with the tiny pig at their feet. "

Lukas hums thoughtfully, glancing over his shoulder at Jesse. "But, it's dangerous to walk during the night... so perhaps two days."

Jesse frowns; Petra can't help but find the way their expression scrunches up a little in confusion stupidly adorable. Are humans just made this way now?

"Didn't Romeo say getting to Sky City would be a two-day journey?"

"Well, normally, it would only take us around half a day without delays, which rarely ever happens," Maya replies, "so that takes about a day. But we've got to go a lot slower so that we don't leave you behind."

Jesse wilts slightly, apology already creeping into their expression.

Petra's noticed that's a habit with them. At one point earlier Gill slowed down to check a map and Jesse, without noticing, accidentally ran into him.

They promptly spent the next ten minutes apologizing about it, while Gill repeatedly assured them it wasn't their fault.

Thankfully, they don't start apologizing nonstop- they just twist their lips sideways slightly and then frown up at the others. "Is there a faster way...? I don't really want to waste everyone's time with so much walking..."

Everyone comes to a stop, Maya crossing her arms and tapping her cheek. "Mm... well, I don't want to spend this much time with just walking... but I'm definitely not sure how well I could carry someone while running..."

After a pause, she looks up and glances at Gill. "Maybe you could carry Jesse, Gill. You used to do it all the time for Romeo."

Gill immediately puts his hands up and shakes his head vigorously. " _No_ way. Do you have any idea how much I hated that training? I had to be his personal taxi for an entire year. No way in _hell_ am I carrying another person after that."

"Mm..." Maya considers this with a frown, before looking at Aiden somewhat hopefully. "You can fly in your shadow form, Aiden. Maybe you could carry Jesse?"

Aiden's shaking his head already. "Can't. My wings aren't strong enough to carry two people."

Maya frowns again, tapping her cheek again thoughtfully. "Mm... Lukas, Petra, you guys carried them a while back... do you think...?"

Lukas frowns, crossing his arms. "At the speed I go in my shadow form, I'd honestly be worried about dropping Jesse or Reuben sometime during it... I don't usually carry people while running."

There's a moment of confusion before Petra realizes he's probably talking about the pig.

"It might not be the best time to try for the first time, then..." Petra mumbles, pinching her bottom lip. "I could probably carry them on my back, but that depends on how strong they are..."

Jesse gives an apologetic shake of their head. "I dunno how fast you guys run; I don't think my usual amount of strength is a good measure to go off of for whatever you guys are thinkin' of..."

Maya purses her lips, looking at the ground. "Hm... then what can we do..."

A moment of silence passes over the group, all of them standing in silent thought.

Petra's about to suggest that maybe they should keep walking and just try speeding up the pace, when Lukas snaps his fingers. "Ah, I've got it. Stand back, guys."

Judging by the way he shifts into position, Petra gently takes Jesse by the shoulder and tugs them back several paces.

Lukas puts his hand up, staring (well, Petra can only assume) forward.

Slowly, several glowing, golden concentric circles form around him, swirling with random syllables and words that are moving too quick for any of them to read.

Petra glances down at Jesse, whose eyes are rather large at the sight. It's understandable. Magic in Cosmos _is_ always an impressive sight.

" _Lacus_ ," he murmurs, and the uppermost concentric circle clicks into place, the word blazing gold, but he barely pauses before he's continuing to the next circle, " _advoca, non, tutumn, celer_."

The concentric circles whirl and raise themselves into the air, before he flares his hand out.

In a burst of light, a large, dark horse slams into the ground, hooves clumping sharply with the glowing blue symbols on its side seething with energy. Its mane glows with fire, soot and embers flitting off of it into the air.

Jesse blinks at it, getting a little closer, Reuben trailing just behind. "It's a horse...?"

Lukas hums, giving it a small smile. "Huh. That worked surprisingly well."

Jesse reaches up, the horse giving their hand a sniff before moving to their head, Jesse remaining very still and careful.

Petra is very tempted to jerk Jesse away, as horses in Cosmos are really just... _not_ safe to touch or hug. Safe to ride, sure, but the only reason they're safe to ride is because of the magic keeping them from attacking any and everything in their path.

Generally, hugging a Cosmos horse or trying to feed it a sugar cube results in you getting your fingers bitten.

And then the horse snuffles and bumps its nose into Jesse's head, making them giggle.

"That was cool, Lukas!" They barely turn to look at him, careful to not upset the horse that's currently nuzzling the top of their head. "Was that magic, too?"

Lukas nods, shifting and resting a hand on his hip. Petra can feel the pride in his voice. "Yeah, it's not a very complicated spell, though... it does get annoying to set up sometimes. Magic requires quite a bit of setup to perform."

Jesse blinks, a tiny amount of confusion creeping into their expression at that. "But you don't do much setup with illusion magic..."

"That's because those are small illusions. Once you're skilled enough, simple or small illusion spells can be done nonverbally and with some kind of catalyst; especially because your magic skill has moved up enough that such small spells can be done without even having to do much of the movement."

Lukas gives a shrug after a moment of thought. "Ivor's magic skill is at the point where he could probably do that without much setup as well; he can do a lot of magic without setup."

"He could _definitely_ do that without much setup. Some of the smaller spells he doesn't even need to make motions," Petra adds helpfully.

Jesse seems to be in thought, but before they can ask anything else about the very intricate details of magic Aiden speaks up. "Let's get going. We can talk more about magic after we get to Champion City; I don't want to be caught outside at night."

"Ah, okay." And Jesse gently disentangles themselves from the horse, popping over to climb onto the horse.

They pause for a second. "Won't I get burned by the flames on its back?"

"Nah, Cosmos horses won't burn the rider," Maya shrugs, "you can get on."

Petra glances at Jesse to see how wary they are about climbing onto a horse with a mane of fire, but they're already clambering onto the horse, which kneels down slightly to let Jesse clamber onto it without giving them the hell they usually give other riders- i.e., bucking around and being a general nuisance.

Huh.

Reuben gives a squeal and, in one leaping motion, springs off of the ground much higher than a normal pig can and landing in Jesse's open arms.

Seeing that Jesse is situated enough, Aiden turns around, tensing his knees-

He shoots off, dissolving into a blur of shadow as two appendages rip themselves from his back.

Before Jesse, with wide eyes, can say anything, he's already a shadow blurring through the sky.

Hardly a second passes before Gill bolts forward as well, dissolving into what looks like a shadowy blur and lunging into the trees. Lukas and Maya are gone seconds later as well, two shadowy blurs practically flying along the road.

Petra glances at Jesse, who's gaping after the October Children while perched on the horse.

"You wanna race?"

The human blinks down at her. "Hm?"

She jerks her head at the path, giving them a reassuring smile. "You wanna see who's faster? Me or the horse?"

She rocks up onto her tiptoes, giving Jesse a grin. "Lukas and Maya aren't really fun about races, Aiden can fly so it's _totally_ unfair, Gill prefers jumping around in the trees... haven't really raced anyone in a while."

Jesse blinks again, squeezing Reuben a little tighter, before a tiny smile comes over their face.

"Okay."

* * *

"Alright," and Maya skids to a halt, finally not just looking like a shadowy blur, Lukas following with Aiden already having landed a few minutes before. Gill leaps out of a tree and lands neatly, going from his more shadowy form to a downright normal one. "We're here!"

Petra skids in a second later, Jesse's horse flying to a halt next to her after half a second. " _Ha!_ I win!"

She falters when she sees Jesse clinging to Reuben and practically facedown on the horse, who is nickering and doing its best to look at Jesse, who is slowly heaving as if they're having trouble breathing. "... you alright?"

Jesse lifts their head a little to give her a tiny, weak grin, even though they're currently reminding Petra of when she first saw Ivor gut a person and their eyes are slightly glazed. "Mmhm... I think..."

The horse nickers as Petra slowly lifts the tiny human off of the horse, apparently not pleased but letting it happen since Jesse _does_ look like they're about to throw up on the spot.

With a gentle nuzzle to their wrist ( _that Jesse's eyes flicker open at_ ) the horse vanishes in a whipcrack and a flash of light.

Petra checks their wrist and raises her eyebrow upon spotting the tiny flame tattoo that is now inscribed inside their wrist. "Holy shit. That horse loved you."

Jesse blinks a few times, looking at the tattoo. "Really?"

"Yeah." Petra taps their wrist, being careful not to actually touch the tattoo, since it's brand new and probably still going to be a bit tender. "When Cosmos horses find a rider they really like, they brand the rider so that it can be summoned quickly and you don't have to do the whole spell thing and summon a different, probably random steed. But uh, that happens _really_ rarely."

"Last time I saw it happen was with Isa," Lukas contributes helpfully, "and I didn't actually see what happened- I just saw her summon her steed."

Jesse blinks again, looking back at the tattoo almost owlishly. "Oh."

Petra can't help but grin at the response.

They look up at her a moment later with big green eyes. "That was... uh... nausea-inducing, but that was also a fun race."

A little bright smile comes over their face as they beam up at her. "Let's do it again sometime."

... _shit, that's cute._

"Sure thing." She gives them a friendly punch on the shoulder, and she would probably say more except the guard at the entrance to Champion City speaks up, practically bellowing at the six of them.

"Halt! You may not enter without showing us your ID cards!"

Aiden's brow furrows. "ID cards...?"

"If you don't have one," the other guard speaks up, thankfully at a lower volume, "then you may not enter."

Maya frowns. "What? Are you saying that we're suspicious individuals or something? We're the October Children!"

The loud one bellows again, which makes Aiden's eye twitch.

He's not a fan of shouting.

"It doesn't matter who you are! Even if you claim to be a lord, I still cannot let you in if you don't have an ID!"

"Hizelk isn't the only one. The rest of the towns are the same," the quieter one speaks up, perhaps upon spotting the blank expressions of the October Children.

Petra glances at the others, her brow creasing in slight confusion. "Yeah, this went into effect a month or so ago. You guys don't have your ID cards?" She pulls out her own, which gleams red and has a place to press your fingers to see the details. She certainly finds them less dense then, say, human's drivers licenses.

(She's actually seen a couple. Ivor has several back in Enchantra from contracted humans that die during the job.)

Lukas hums, biting his lip thoughtfully. "Now that I think about it... Romeo _did_ mention something about this around a month ago..."

Aiden mutters a swear under his breath as realization, and shortly afterward anger, flares in his eyes. "That useless lord- he forgot to give us our fucking ID cards!"

"Then what are we going to do?" Gill glances at where the sun, even though it has been hidden behind the clouds, is now definitely casting bloodred light over everything as it sets. "There's _definitely_ not enough time to head back to the Underneath."

"It's going to be dark soon..." Petra thumbs the corner of her mouth, glancing at where the sun is setting. "We definitely can't just keep running around; especially since we're not really good with light magic yet and we've got Jesse with us."

Lukas crosses his arms, brow furrowing, before nodding and turning to walk back into the forest. "C'mon. We've got to head back into the forest. We'll head back to the Underneath first thing in the morning."

Jesse blinks at them, already beginning to jog after them. "Um... why are we going back into the forest?"

"You'll see. Let's go, there's no time," Lukas calls over his shoulder.

* * *

 **A/N: Why is this story so easy to update quickly? xD**

 **Travelling is... great. xD**

 **No new reviews! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	13. Sunset

"This one is no good," Lukas mumbles, hand pressed to a tree.

Maya shakes her head from where her palm is pressed to one several feet away, her brow furrowed. "This one too..."

Aiden has to stare for a bit longer, but he shakes his head at the tree he's touching as well. "This one's useless... damn, at this rate, night will fall first..."

Jesse hesitantly looks around at the trees. "Mm... what exactly are you looking for?"

"A tree," Aiden replies tersely, which doesn't help answer Jesse's question.

"... but there are trees everywhere..." Jesse goes over to a nearby one and presses their palm to a tree experimentally like the others are doing, before blinking. "... are you looking for one that doesn't feel hollow?"

Lukas pauses in checking the trees, before glancing at Jesse. "What?"

"This tree feels hollow. Are you looking for trees that don't feel hollow?" Jesse looks back at the tree, a little frown crossing their face as they pat the tree again. "I didn't know trees grew hollow in Cosmos..."

Now Lukas is definitely looking at Jesse. So are the other half demons. In fact, Maya and Lukas are regarding Jesse with a good amount of interest.

"... they don't."

This is from Aiden, who has stopped using his sharper tone in exchange for a slightly bemused one.

Jesse blinks at him.

Petra pipes up. "Trees don't feel 'hollow' or 'dense' to us unless you have a high magic sensitivity," she says, tapping the tree and feeling like she's clunking her fingers on the trunk- it's got the consistency of a sheet of metal to her. "So what you're doing is actually sensing the magic in the tree."

She pauses a second later. "I think. I'm not the magic expert here."

"No, no, you've got it," Lukas murmurs, shifting to a different tree and waiting for a minute before frowning and giving his head another little shake.

Jesse now blinks at her, before looking at the tree that they're pressing their palm against.

"... oh." They pause, before looking at Lukas. "Are some people just more sensitive to magic?"

Lukas hums, shifting his weight thoughtfully at the question. "Most demons _do_ seem to have a genetic thing for magic sensitivity... and I guess some of _us_ are less sensitive towards magic."

"Stop glaring at me, Lukas."

"No idea what you're talking about, Gill."

Jesse gives a tiny giggle as Lukas glances at the shorter human with an almost appraising tilt of his head. "Hm, I guess it could just be that you were born sensitive to magic... not like you would've sensed it much in your world."

Jesse purses their lips at that. They can feel him not saying some sort of detail, but they decide to let it slide, as he seems to be pretty urgent about finding a tree. "Oh, I see... that makes sense."

They shuffle over and try a different tree. "... this one's hollow too... does that mean we're lookin' for a tree that's got more magic?"

"Yes, but... it looks like we'll have to use one of these," Maya mumbles, frowning at the trees. "There aren't any really that have as much as I would like in the area."

Aiden's tone has gone straight back to irritated as he lets out a long sigh. It's more of a groan. "Fine."

Abruptly, Petra straightens up, making Jesse look up at the tall half-demon.

( _Now that they think about it, she doesn't have an eyepatch or something covering her eyes like the others... why is that?_ )

"I didn't expect to meet you five here."

Jesse spins on their heel and almost falls over. Behind them, on the path, a demon has materialized, black hair pinned back in a low ponytail, although it's not a very long one, and his black beard is a little scraggly and unevenly cut. His armor is primarily black, with hints of blue peeking out beneath the black leather plates. He, seeming to follow some unspoken rule of demon fashion, is also wearing black boots.

His red irises are interrupted before reaching the pupils by a ring of dark blue.

Lukas relaxes, a smile coming over his lips. "That's what we should say to you, Ivor."

 _Ivor...?_

 _Isn't he one of the demon lords?_

Gill inclines his head politely at Ivor, who is perhaps a little shorter than Petra, though not by much. "You still searching for the new lord?"

Ivor gives a slightly frustrated hum, crossing his arms and listing to one side. "Yes... all I keep hearing is ' _Not yet_ ', although recently I've been getting ' _soon_ ', so that's something."

He surveys the faces of the five, Aiden looking stormy while Lukas looks worried. "... you seem troubled."

"We are troubled," is Aiden's rather blunt reply, "our stupid fool of a lord minus Petra forgot to give us our ID cards, so we can't enter Champion City."

"Ah, that. They started using those a month ago... so now you're searching for a tree?" Ivor glances around at the ones nearby distastefully. "You probably won't find a suitable one here, the ones closest to the roads have been drained of magic."

"We know, but... it's dangerous to stay out in the open during the night, especially with Jesse here..." Gill shifts and glances at Jesse, who is still touching a tree experimentally.

Ivor's brow furrows slightly. "... Jesse?"

Jesse blinks at him.

The demon lord slowly walks closer to them, covering a good amount of ground until he's right in front of Jesse. If they wanted, they could reach out and poke him. They can feel him scrutinizing them carefully.

"... you're the human that Romeo was talking about... the one without a wish?"

Jesse blinks at him again, having to tilt their head back to actually make eye contact with him.

They do have a wish. They have a wish that they want more than anything else; if they can have nothing else they would want this.

But they feel so guilty that it's just something for themselves.

"Mmhm..."

Ivor looks at them for a moment longer, before glancing at Reuben at their feet. He squeals in response to the look he's receiving, butting his head against Jesse's leg.

"And a vessel creature, too..." He glances up at Jesse. "To keep your heart safe?"

"Yes, sir."

Ivor makes a faint face at that, and Jesse's pretty sure they can see Petra hiding a grin. "Please... don't call me that. Ivor's fine."

Jesse bobs their head at him.

He regards them for a minute longer, before giving a thoughtful hum and glancing at the others. "It's going to rain tonight. You said that you were looking for a tree. Did you find a suitable one yet?"

Jesse shakes their head, making him look back down at him. "All of the trees so far feel hollow."

The demon lord looks at them for a moment longer, brow furrowing. "... you can feel the magic in the tree?"

They bob their head again.

Ivor stares at them for a long, long moment, before looking back at Petra. "I believe I should avoid running around at night, considering I can't use light magic. Would you all mind if I stayed with you tonight?"

"We wouldn't mind at all," Lukas says quickly, inclining his head in a little bow.

Petra gives a displeased hum, glancing around at all the trees. "Yeah... though the tree is still a big issue."

The demon lord touches his lip, brow furrowing momentarily. "I see... in that case..."

He turns his palm up and turns to an area where nobody is standing, eyes gleaming momentarily... and then-

" _Arboretum_."

Instantly, a glowing white sprig pokes out of the ground, rapidly curling and elongating and growing, leafy branches expanding from it until the glow fades, revealing a huge, black-trunked tree that towers quite far above the other ones, red leaves waving in the breeze.

Jesse's eyes grow incredibly big at that.

"Ooh, awesome! As expected of Ivor," Maya says cheerfully, apparently not seeming quite as awed as Jesse is.

Aiden gives Ivor a small bow. "Thank you, Ivor."

He pauses, a scowl coming over his face a second later. "If only Romeo would learn from you."

Ivor hums, a soft laugh rumbling in his throat. "Romeo's still fairly inexperienced, but he has potential. He _was_ picked for a reason." He pauses, regarding the half demons for a moment. "He is very much like you five."

"Please don't compare us to him," Aiden mutters, still scowling.

Another hum of laughter. "Very well."

Petra apparently notices Jesse's rather awe-struck expression and misinterprets it as slight confusion, because she begins explaining. Not that Jesse minds. "Ivor is the oldest demon alive in Cosmos..."

"Yeah, I think we mentioned he was one of the demons who helped close the door," Gill adds, helpfully.

Jesse blinks, glancing at Ivor, who looks back at them evenly. "Yeah, I... think you mentioned that."

Something occurs to them, and they tilt their head at the demon lord curiously a moment later. "You're the lord of the east, right?" At his confirming nod, they continue. "Why are you... here, then?"

"Ivor is... special. He can speak with 'the world', which..." Lukas frowns slightly, lips tilting downwards at the ends. Jesse gets the feeling he's trying to dumb it down so they understand more.

However, Ivor chimes in. "The world is the literal world of Cosmos." He spreads his hands, gesturing at everything. "The ground, the trees- I believe humans have a myth about the Earth Mother?"

Jesse nods immediately. "Yeah, although it depends on the mythology you're in. But Greek mythology talks about Gaia; she's the literal earth."

At least, Jesse's about ninety-nine percent that that is how the legend works.

"Yes. Imagine as if Cosmos itself is a huge, living demon. It can speak and communicate, but only with those that are willing to listen and understand it, or _can_ understand it."

Jesse tries to imagine this, before slowly nodding. "Okay... that... that makes sense, I think."

Ivor gives them a look. Jesse gets the feeling that he's rather pleased, but he continues before they can dwell on it too much. "I search for and select rulers according to the world's judgement. Typically after a ruler dies due to an accident, or after a ruler abdicates, or some other reason, they are replaced quickly... but because Jupin is such an important district that it affects everyone, the world is much, much pickier, and it's easier to travel all over Cosmos and see if the answer changes rather than stay in Enchantra and try to ask over and over."

"Ah, I see..."

"This is a great conversation," Aiden interrupts, making Jesse jump and look around at him, "but let's get going before we get eaten alive out here. You can talk about demon magic in the tree."

And with that very kind note, he tenses his knees, backing up a few steps, before launching himself into the air, hundreds of times higher than the average human, and disappearing through the leaves with a rustle. Maya and Gill follow quickly, with Maya seeming to wait deliberately for Gill to go before springing into the tree.

Jesse's eyes grow rather, rather wide.

Petra gives Jesse a teasing smile, sticking her tongue out a little bit. "What's wrong? Can't jump that high?"

"... why are we jumping into a tree?"

Lukas opens his mouth to answer, Ivor glancing over at the blonde half-demon with a look that makes Jesse feel like he somewhat wishes the blonde was in a contract with him. Maybe because of the magic. Both do seem to like magic.

And then both stiffen.

"... Jesse, don't turn around." Lukas's voice, to Jesse's slight dismay, has dropped an octave in warning.

The last time that happened, it got very bloody.

Petra glances over her shoulder. Or, well, more accurately, she turns her head halfway before it snaps back forward, staring intently at the tree. Her own expression has gone dead serious. "... Ivor, you're standing right next to Jesse. Can you get them into the tree?"

Jesse looks over at Ivor, who is also resolutely staring forward now. "Probably. You two aren't very skilled at light magic yet, right?"

"Lukas is better."

"Better is relative; the last time I got caught outside at night I still ended up with my arm nearly getting ripped off," Lukas mutters through gritted teeth. "I think we should just get up into the tree and put up the barrier."

Ivor hums, still staring ahead of him. "Since there's a hollow area, it should take a little less energy to put up the barrier. Just get into the tree."

Despite the almost casual tones that Jesse's about _ninety_ percent sure the demons are using to not cause Jesse to panic, they're getting rather nervous.

Petra huffs. "That should be the easy part. Ready?"

Lukas raises his shoulders in a shrug. "Eh. Ready as we'll ever be. Go."

Petra blurs into the tree with a speed that rivals even Lukas's, while Lukas backs up and takes a running jump into another tree, rebounding and sending some leaves sprinkling from the much taller tree.

"My apologies if this makes you uncomfortable." Before Jesse can ask why they'd be uncomfortable, Ivor stoops down and grabs Jesse, spinning them around and almost tossing them over his shoulder so that he can carry them more effectively.

The moment he does, Jesse realizes why Lukas told them not to turn around.

A... _creature_ that easily towers about ten feet tall is standing about two feet from the demon lord, glowing purple eyes staring right at them.

Grotesquely skinny limbs with black skin (as if charred or burnt or dyed) that stretches over bone and a torso that is ridiculously small and out of proportion with the limbs seems to what give it most of its height, the eyes burning with a strange lack of light that... _somehow_ still emits light.

It's like a black light.

Jesse's eyes lock with the black light.

Instantly the thing's jaw drops—

\- and _continues_ dropping, barely connected to the skull by a string of sinew, purple pupils dilating as blackened, burnt-looking teeth are revealed, purple saliva dripping down its jaw and onto the ground, where it hisses and sizzles against the road.

It screams, an unearthly, screeching shriek that echoes in the air, ringing instantly appearing in Jesse's ears as they balk from it.

 _Don't scream._

 _Don't cry._

Ivor swears under his breath, tightening his grip on them. "Hang on. And don't look at it," he adds, after a moment of thought, "it doesn't like eye contact."

They wish he'd mentioned this before.

Jesse buries their head in his shoulder, replacing anything they can see with darkness, squeezing their eyes shut, doing anything they can to not look at that thing.

There is a pause, before Jesse feels the wind whip around them momentarily, rushing as the screech grows softer and farther away quite abruptly.

"Ivor, do you mind helping with the barrier? Aiden, Petra, and Gill are completely useless at it."

Jesse blinks their eyes open at Maya's voice, twisting around and seeing Maya and Lukas with their hands up and out. The walls around them are gnarled branches, arching around to make a little room, and a glowing orb is hovering above them.

"That's not our fault," Gill scowls at her. "You know we're not good at magic."

"That's exactly why it's your fault," Lukas hums back teasingly.

Ivor rolls his eyes. "You children and your bickering."

He carefully moves and sets Jesse down on the floor next to Petra, detangling their trembling fingers from his armor and setting their hands in their lap with a slowness Jesse doesn't expect. "Stay here for a moment, I need to help with the barrier."

Jesse nods quickly, hands still trembling. "Okay..."

He nods, giving them a quirk of his lips that they suspect is a sort of reassuring smile, before standing and moving to join Maya and Lukas, while the screams of the creature below still echo in Jesse's ear.

* * *

 **A/N: Huh, the part I wanted to get to ended up getting pushed to next chapter xD**

 **Welp, there's another chapter done! What fun, we get attacked by an Enderman xD**

 **Next chapter'll be lots of explaining about mechanics because I need that down somewhere xD**

 **I use the 'xD' face too much...**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Toni42: Oof. Um. Yeah. Sorry xD / There's actually a specific reason for them being generalized; but it's also a note that while humans CAN be contracted in Cosmos... there hasn't been any for the longest time. This is the FIRST year in a long time that contracted humans have been walking around. Also, it's not been very long since the October Children have come; it's early December in the human world. / Again, he doesn't like 'em xD / Hehehe xD / Yes, the race xD / It's a tiny flame. It was mentioned at one point. / More is elaborated on next chapter xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: Yep. / Hehe xD The claws are more like detachable gloves. / A bloody fight situation? Nope. / Hehe / That's acting flirtatious? / Indeed. / Hehehe :3 / Who said Radar's human? / Not quite yet, but an interesting thought xD / Yis :3 / xD / Indeed.**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	14. Magic

The barrier outside the opening to the hollow glows a strange gold color.

Jesse watches it, interested both by the fact that the sound of the moving beings below is muffled to the point of nearly being inaudible, and the fact that the glow looks like a soap bubble, iridescent and and swimming in light.

Ivor sits next to them a moment later, making them look over at him curiously.

( _It's interesting... the demon lords Jesse has met so far don't exactly_ feel _like lords. Perhaps Ivor feels more powerful and a bit scarier than Romeo does, but he doesn't feel like a lord to Jesse._ )

"The barrier's up, so we should all be safe for the night," he murmurs to them a second later.

Jesse glances back out the hollow, frowning at the moving figures below.

The moving, inhuman figures below.

"What... _was_ that thing? Just now?" Jesse points out the hollow. "The one with purple eyes?"

Gill sucks in a brief breath, eye widening. He's not the only one with that reaction; Maya's head snaps up from where she's sitting against the wall next to him and Aiden briefly stops sharpening the blades on his whip to look up at them. "Shit, you saw an Enderman?"

"A- huh?"

Lukas crosses his arms. "When night in Cosmos falls," he begins to explain, "the world begins to emit negative energy, kinda like the stuff stuck within the dimension within the door. However, unlike the dimension within the door, Cosmos has plenty of things that the negative energy can merge with once it's concentrated enough, and once the negative energy merges with something, it creates a mindless but still dangerous creature of darkness."

Petra nods, leaning her hand on her cheek. "Thankfully, most cities have barriers of light magic from heavy enchantments and a lot of weird laws about magic that I don't understand even though Ivor's tried to explain them to me-"

Ivor gives a tired sigh at that, which makes Jesse giggle.

"- so they can't get in. But anything outside of any of the cities is fair game for the negative energy; a loose brick, a plant, an animal of some kind, even corpses that aren't buried properly."

Jesse's giggle has turned into politely repressing the urge to turn seventy shades of pale.

"Once they've merged, they create different types of monsters. Some are spiders the size of tables, some are these weird things called creepers that blow up when you get too close, some are zombies, and... some are Endermen, which are just a complete pain in the ass."

At Jesse's questioning tilt of the head, Gill elaborates. "They teleport and they start spazzing out if you make eye contact with them."

"Oh."

"You can try to kill them, and it'll dissipate, but it'll just reform shortly afterwards," Maya chimes in. "The only way to get rid of them is to purify them with light magic, but full demons can't use light magic, not without jumping through about sixty magical loopholes, and that takes way too long."

Ivor nods, jerking his head at the half-demons in the room. "Since those five are half-demons, they can use light magic. But they're not very good at it yet, since it's not like the demons can teach them, so the night is still fairly dangerous for them."

Aiden shrugs, making Jesse blink at him. "'Course there's a ton of other dangerous things out at night, like criminals that just don't give a damn about the monsters or even just the fact that's dark as hell and difficult to see, but that's the main threat."

Jesse thumbs the corner of their lip. "I see..."

He grunts in return, which causes the conversation to fall flat and a somewhat awkward silence to come across the room.

Jesse thinks about it, before looking at Lukas. "Did you say somethin' about magic needing setup earlier when you summoned the horse?"

Lukas, apparently not seeming comfortable with the silence either, jumps on the subject enthusiastically. "Yeah. Magic in Cosmos, depending on how much knowledge you have on it and how well you can handle it actually requires a lot of setup to harness. Some of the really huge spells even require extra components."

Jesse presses their lips together, pondering this. "I see... so you can do a lot of small illusion spells without chanting and bringing up that thing with all the words 'cause you know how to do those well?"

"Yeah; but in part that's because my aptitude for those spells are just higher as well."

Upon spotting Jesse's somewhat perplexed expression, and also being the magic expert in general, Ivor chimes in a bit gruffly. "Think of types of magic in Cosmos as living creatures. Some of those creatures will absolutely love you, and will bend easier to your will, determining your intuitive aptitude for it- the aptitude you have immediately without ever practicing. Others will be more difficult, and the larger ones will be harder to control."

Jesse's expression clears. "Ohhhhh."

The blonde half-demon gives a sheepish laugh. "Ahh, that's much easier to explain than what I was trying to say."

"Well, that's how I've come to think of it."

Ivor gives Jesse a wry smile a moment later. "I've worked with all different types of magic; enough to at least gain a rather high aptitude in all of them without necessarily having to have intuitive aptitude for that type. They get easier to control over time as well, hence why as your aptitude gets higher you don't have to do as much magical setup."

Reuben snuffles, butting his head into Jesse's stomach. The teenager giggles and rubs him on the head with their thumb. "That makes sense. Thanks for explainin' it to me, I don't think I would've gotten it otherwise."

"Of course." The demon lord gives Jesse another tiny quirk of a smile. "You don't have magic in your world, so it never hurts to explain what's going on."

Jesse bobs their head at him like a bobble-head doll. "Thank you."

He nods at them, and the room falls into silence again, except it doesn't feel as stiff as before.

Regardless, silence has always bothered Jesse ( _except it hasn't_ always _bothered Jesse, has it, there used to be a time where they didn't mind it at all_ ) and so they pull out the book of spells that Romeo gave them before they were about to leave.

Petra blinks when she sees it. "You have a Cosmos spellbook?"

Jesse bobs their head again. They really are beginning to feel like one of those creepy bobble-head dolls you stick on your car dashboard. "Yeah, Romeo gave it t'me just in case before we left the Underneath."

"Why'd he give you a spellbook? It's not like you can do magic."

Jesse tries not to shy away at Aiden's rather sharp tone. "Uh... he mostly said someone should have a basic spellbook on hand, in case somethin' went wrong."

"Oh yeah, he tried to offer it to me, too," Maya confirms after glancing at the cover of the book. "Honestly, I think he's been looking for someone to pawn the book off on; Ivor got him this limited-edition version that had some removed spells that I think he prefers."

Jesse shifts Reuben into their lap, leaning against the branches that make up the wall and still clutching the book tightly. "Oh... why were the spells removed?"

"They're technically forbidden spells."

Jesse blinks at Gill. In fact, most everyone's looking at Gill. He's not the magic expert. "Spells can be forbidden?"

Gill shrugs when he sees the gobsmacked looks most everyone's giving him. "Romeo was reading one time while he was training me and I asked. Ended up knowing more about the spells in that book than I ever needed to know."

"You mean you knew that they existed?" Maya asks him, in a mock-innocent voice.

Gill smacks her.

She promptly smacks him back, and the two of them get into a little slap-fight, with Aiden watching them in slight amusement.

Sensing that their question isn't going to be answered, Jesse opens the book, flipping to the table of contents and finding a huge slew of spells, categorized by difficulty, then type, then alphabetical order. It's actually a very organized volume, considering it's big enough that Jesse struggles to get it in and out of their inventory.

"Yes, some spells can be forbidden."

Jesse peeks up from the book's table of contents at Ivor, who is watching them read with faint interest. For a moment, they're unsure that he's spoken, but in the end they decide _what the heck_ and decide to ask him to elaborate on it. "Why?"

"The spells that are forbidden... they _could_ be used for good purposes, but they're not being used for good or constructive purposes," Ivor says, slowly. Jesse gets the feeling he's dumbing down a lot of things so that they understand what he's talking about. "So some of them are forbidden because of that."

"Some of them? What about the rest?"

Ivor frowns, considering the question, before looking back at Jesse. His red eyes make the dark blue pop even more, and Jesse feels a small chill go down their back at the look he is giving them.

"Well... some spells that are forbidden in Cosmos now are soul spells."

He predicts their question coming, and raises his fingers. "Many of the ancient demons in Cosmos wanted to keep their soul around so they could better keep Cosmos in relative order and assist the new lords. So, they used some very complicated, very _difficult_ soul spells in order to keep their souls persisting after death."

Jesse blinks at him. "Oh... that sounds nice."

A pause as they consider his words.

Soul spells are forbidden now.

So the outcome was...

"... what happened?"

Ivor's shoulders drop slightly as the demon lord grimaces. "The thing is, the spell worked. It allowed their souls to persist after death... but not without a price."

 _A deal with the devil._

"Their souls, while retaining some semblance of the beings they once were... twisted, and changed to create a sort of spirit that's worse than the ones formed from negative energy."

Jesse's eyes grow rather large. "They're _worse?!_ "

"Yes. At least the ones formed by negative energy are mindless. Those spirits that remain after the soul spells have been cast and the demons have passed still have their minds." The demon lord looks rather grim. "They're smart, they're ruthless, and they will do anything to get more souls into their realm in order to feed."

"... oh."

He relaxes a moment later, spotting the wide-eyed expression on Jesse's face and giving them a quirk of a smile. "Don't worry; most of them have been neutralized or at least can't harm other demons. And the soul spells have been wiped from many books, and being difficult to perform it doesn't particularly matter if anyone tries to cast it- it's just so exasperating to cast that most people would probably give up."

They fidget, running a hand over Reuben's back. "... that's- that's good."

"Yes." The demon lord shifts again, giving Jesse a strange look that makes Jesse feel like the demon lord's almost appreciating the attention, even as Lukas finally tugs Maya off of Gill in the background. "Well... do you have any more questions about Cosmos magic that you'd like to ask?"

Jesse looks at the table of contents, which spans four pages and has enough text crammed onto it that they have to hold the book an inch from their nose. Then back at Ivor.

If he's offering, then...

Jesse looks back at the big book again, before scooting closer and opening the pages a little more so that he can get a better look. "Mm... what's some of the more helpful spells in here?"

Ivor gives them a vague smile at the question, but leans over the book and takes a closer look. Only a few seconds passes before he reaches up and presses his finger to the page. "So, you're not going to be able to perform this magic, but healing spells are _certainly_ going to be a caster's most important spell list in their repertoire..."

* * *

Petra can't help but stare.

Jesse is asleep, head resting on Ivor's lap from where they've been slowly listing over to look at the book while also getting progressively more and more sleepy (with even _Reuben_ dozing off before Jesse does) before finally conking out and dropping their head onto his lap.

You'd expect the demon lord to shove Jesse off or even to shift them off to the side carefully so he can do other things. In fact, Petra probably would've gently shifted Jesse to the floor and found them a blanket or something.

Instead, he's got one hand resting on their shoulder while he absentmindedly swirls the other one in the air. Petra can vaguely make out Ivor tapping away and doing some work in midair using magic as visuals, but it's hard to see what he's actually doing.

Primarily because she's looking at the tiny human currently fast asleep while using his lap as a pillow.

Lukas glances at Jesse, completely zonked out, before looking back at Ivor. His eyebrow quirks above his blindfold. "You don't wanna move 'em or anything?"

Ivor shrugs, still focusing more on his work. "I'll do it later. I don't know how deeply they sleep."

"I don't actually think they sleep that deep. They get up a lot at night."

Everyone looks at Gill again.

Gill shrugs. "Their room is right next to ours at Romeo's place."

By which he means his and Maya's, if the way Maya's cheeks are slowly starting to flush a bright pink are any indication.

( _Petra files that information away as leverage against Gill later._ )

"They tend to get up at whatever time of night and then move around."

Ivor considers this for a moment, glancing down at the human sleeping rather soundly in his lap, before giving a nonchalant hum and returning to making markings in the air. "Well then, all the more reason to let them sleep."

"... you just really like the fact that they're interested in magic, huh?"

The demon lord gives another little shrug, being careful not to move around too much in fear of waking Jesse up. "Well, I don't _dislike_ the fact that they're interested in magic despite being unable to cast it."

"Can't blame them. Magic is cool." Lukas straightens up a bit, regarding the tiny sleeping human in Ivor's lap. Their rather fluffy hair is dangling in their face.

Ivor brushes it out of the way automatically and almost gently. Besides a little twitch of their nose, they don't stir much.

Satisfied that they're not waking up, he looks up again, Petra keenly aware that everyone will have to go to sleep if they're going to make it back to the Underneath and hurry back to Champion City the next day without getting caught outside. His lips twitch up in a smile. "You're not wrong."

Lukas gives Ivor a thoughtful, almost confused frown, Petra noticing this out of the corner of her eye and diverting her attention from Maya currently arguing with Gill about not being noisy and waking Jesse up.

Ivor catches the look too, if the way he pauses and shifts slightly in thought is any indication.

After a moment of thought, he barely, _barely_ gives Lukas the tiniest shake of his head.

She can't help but wonder what the _heck_ that's about.

* * *

 **A/N: Aaaah, can't wait for the next few chapters. Champion City is interesting.**

 **I love being tired. Which is to say, today is opposite day. I love homework and being stressed.**

 **Anyway, responses to reviews!**

 **Toni42: Hoorah x3 And the monsters are created with negative energy. :3 / Hehe :3**

 **NinaNaranja: I _remember_ you! It's been a long time, lol. Good to see you! / Hehe, to say the least xD / Don't worry, same here. / Thank you!**

 **TheAmberShadow: What do you think? / Hehe, indeed they do xD / Yep! Although Lukas might know something about it. / They do, but not AS the Order. / Yeep :3 / Nooo, that'd be creepy xD / Technically not. To be a lord of demons, you have to be a demon.**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Maybe! / Ah... I don't really have one, honestly xD / The sequel is called Composite.**

 **IntrovertedAnon: Ahhh, thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it.**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	15. Reaching the City

Jesse blinks sleepily.

It's not morning yet, or at least not a decent time of day if the way the hollow is almost completely dark except for swimming gold light casting dramatic shadows on everything is any indication. They stare into the darkness for a minute, eyes slowly adjusting.

Lukas has his head resting on Aiden's shoulder, who has his arms crossed and his legs resting simply in front of him. Petra is lying facing the wall, choppy red hair splayed out behind her on the floor and gleaming in the golden light from the barrier. Maya is next to Gill, their shoulders gently pressing into each other's, although Maya's head is resting more against the wall while Gill's lolls forward slightly.

Ivor's nowhere to be seen, though- they scan the room a few times to be extra sure.

Jesse twists a little bit, now becoming aware of their head resting on someone or something with Reuben slumbering in their lap, snuffling happily. After some amount of shifting, they manage to turn their head and look up.

Red eyes with a ring of dark blue around the pupil stare back at them.

After a moment where Jesse's heart decides to go at the speed of a jackhammer and their eyes forcibly adjust, they realize that the demon lord is blinking at Jesse slightly, still silently looking at them.

A long, long silence passes as the two of them stare at each other, Jesse with their head still resting in his lap and Ivor looking at them patiently.

"What time's it?" Jesse whispers to him after a minute, trying to surreptitiously shift off his lap without him noticing and thinking that they didn't want to be there.

They did, it was surprisingly comfortable and it made them feel rather like being wrapped in a blanket, it was also just a literal _demon lord_ that they were currently resting on and that was a bit awkward to say " _Oh yeah, I was just using the lap of the oldest demon alive in Cosmos as well as him being a lord of an entire district as a pillow._ "

Ivor's irises flick away for a moment, before glancing back at Jesse. "Three in the morning," he whispers back.

"Oh."

Jesse shifts again, giving an inadvertent little shiver as some cold air comes gusting over them as they move and slowly sit up. Ivor keeps watching them the whole time, which does make them feel rather awkward. Well, more awkward than they already felt.

Then:

"Aren't you tired?"

Jesse blinks, looking back up at him. "Hm?"

He glances at the dark sky, before back at Jesse. His expression is vaguely perplexed. "It was nearly eleven by the time you fell asleep. Now it's three in the morning. You slept for four hours."

Jesse blinks at him again.

"... oh." A little pause. "'M not really sleepy."

The demon lord hums softly, shifting probably-sore legs from Jesse literally sleeping on them for about four hours. "Alright, that's fair. I don't sleep much at night, either."

Jesse nods with a little hum, shifting back into a sitting position next to Ivor. It's too dark to read (well... to read without killing Jesse's eyes), nobody else is awake so they don't want to turn on the lights, and Reuben is happily snuffling in their lap from where he's dreaming about who-knows-what. They give him a little rub.

The branches creak slightly as a breeze ghosts through the hollow's opening, making little chills and goosebumps pop up on Jesse's skin. They shiver slightly, reaching up and rubbing their goosebumps to try to make them go away.

When they don't, and, in fact, more wind gusts into the room, Jesse scoops Reuben up carefully and scoots closer to Ivor, trying to get a little more warmth. It's not like they have a jacket or a blanket with them.

He is quiet.

Jesse can't help but worry slightly, glancing over at him. Perhaps he finds that rather forward and thinks they're strange and odd and just plain weird.

( _Perhaps they are._ )

A long moment of awkward silence passes before Ivor quietly wraps an arm around Jesse and tugs him into his side gently. Perhaps to make them feel less awkward.

( _He does seem to be nice that way._ )

They end up staying that way, Jesse pressing up against Ivor's side slightly with his arm wrapped around their shoulders in a comforting way as the breeze continues ghosting through the room, until a small ray of sunshine peeks through the still-glowing barrier, lighting the inside of the hollow with a softer, more consistent glow and casting their long shadows across the floor.

* * *

It takes a while for everyone else to get up, even with Jesse carefully poking Maya, and Lukas waking up on his own with a stretch and a little yawn, and Aiden waking up after Jesse tentatively gets within five feet of him and hastily scampering away, and Gill just rolling over until Maya sits on him and he shoves her off with a good amount of swearing, and Petra waking up from the noise and chucking Miss Butter at the two, where it embeds itself in the wall about three inches from Maya's head-

When, in short, everyone's awake and stopped grumbling, Lukas picks Jesse and Reuben up easily, and the demons all leap down from the tree. Jesse has to close their eyes and not stare at the ground to avoid getting vertigo.

( _Ivor, of course, is somehow already at the bottom without any of them noticing, and Jesse spends about five minutes wondering how that is the case._ )

"Alright," Maya says briskly and rather cheerfully considering, "Let's head back to the Underneath."

Aiden gives an impatient sigh. "And then we'll waste another day, just like that."

Lukas, who is still holding Jesse, gives a shrug, making Jesse bounce slightly. ( _They're pretty sure Ivor's lips twitch at that, but his expression is very clear when they look at him._ ) "It can't be helped. We're just going to have to hurry."

Petra shrugs, glancing at Ivor. "Is there anything you need me to do? Since we're both in the same place and all."

"Considering my main task at the moment is searching for another lord, I don't think so." The demon lord thoughtfully raises his eyes to the sky, considering this a bit more. "I'll call you if there's anything I need."

The redheaded demon nods, crossing her arms. "Sure thing."

"Mmmnn. By the way, there's a messenger bird coming."

Maya tilts her head back, Lukas automatically setting Jesse down on the ground while Aiden squints, trying to avoid staring into a good amount of sunlight. Now that the clouds aren't smothering the sky, Jesse can see that the sun is a white blazing orb that seems to be tinted very faintly red at the edges.

Though that might just be the sky behind it.

"A messenger bird...?" Gill frowns, crossing his arms and tilting his head at it. "I wonder who sent it."

The bird descends, flapping huge red wings that gleam at the edges with golden plumage. Without thinking, Jesse sticks their arm out, the messenger bird hauling back to not basically slam full-force into Jesse's arm and alighting on it. It's surprisingly heavy, but they manage to keep their balance.

"Hey! How's it going for you four?"

Jesse almost drops their arm at the sound of Romeo's voice issuing from the bird, especially with Reuben letting out a loud squeal of surprise, but through a good amount of self-discipline, Jesse manages to not actually drop the messenger bird, whose mouth is moving quite freely.

"Ah, Romeo _is_ a fan of Mimic birds," Lukas muses, seeming totally not-put-out by the fact that this bird is literally _talking with Romeo's voice_.

Aiden scowls at it, looking like he might want to punch the bird. "Yeah, well, I'm not a fan of hearing his voice even when we're nowhere near him."

"Ah, oops, it's five now with Jesse, isn't it?" Romeo- or, well, the bird- gives an awkward chuckle. "I assume you guys have already reached a different town by the time you get this message, but you guys are probably stuck outside 'cause I forgot to give you your ID cards. I would've been able to deliver them sooner, but I decided to make one for Jesse as well."

Jesse blinks in surprise at that.

"Oh! I'm also sending you guys a magic mirror. Contact me with the mirror once you guys receive it. I'll, um..." A slightly awkward laugh. "I'll be waiting."

The message apparently finished, the bird gives Jesse a rather friendly peck on the head, before giving a hefty flap of the wings and launching into the air.

Instantly, several things glow into existence before dropping, a mirror dropping out of midair with very little warning. It's only because Jesse's hands are out and their reflexes are the way they are that they are able to whip their hands forward and grab ahold of the mirror's frame before it crashes to the ground and shatters.

The ID cards, just being ID cards and not something that important or fragile, all clatter onto the floor, although one of them _does_ bounce off of Jesse's head.

Aiden smirks slightly as he goes over to pick things up, scooping up the ID cards carefully while making sure not to bump into Jesse by accident. "I'll hold our ID cards. Jesse, you've got the mirror, can you hold onto it?"

"Hm? Oh. Sure." Jesse pauses, clutching the mirror tightly, before tilting their head at him. "Why me and not someone else, by the way?"

"Because if one of us holds onto it, Romeo will contact us every minute," Aiden replies, which makes Jesse hide a rather large smile at that. "Let's get into Champion City."

He gives Ivor another small bow. "Thank you very much for helping us with the tree last night."

The demon lord shrugs. "It's not a problem. If that's all you need for now, I'll take my leave. I need to continue my search."

Petra gives him a deep nod. "Call me if you need anything, Ivor."

"Of course." He looks down and gives Jesse a light little pat on the head, which makes them blink at him in a bemused way. "It was nice to meet you."

Before Jesse can even say "thank you" or "you too" the demon lord gives the October Children a nod. "You know where to find me if you need me."

Gill gives him a playful little salute, grinning. "You bet, Ivor."

A smile quirks across Ivor's face, before he's turning away and walking into-

Air.

Without any warning, the air swallows him up, the demon lord disappearing without a trace.

"C'mon, we need to get situated in Champion City and get some supplies. I have the feeling this is going to be a long trip," Aiden mutters, already walking back towards the gates while Jesse is looking around vigorously to see where he went. It looks a bit like they're doing neck exercises, actually.

"Wait, didn't Romeo say to call him with the mirror once we get the items?" Jesse calls after him, still holding the mirror tightly.

Maya shrugs, already following after him with a cheerful spring in her step. "Ah, he won't mind. C'mon, Jesse, let's go!"

"... you guys..." Jesse has a mix of a rather startled expression and a somewhat exasperated one on their face, which makes them look rather funny.

"We can't really get into Champion City without paying attention the whole way; the guards might try to ask questions and we have to be paying attention when we're talking to them," Lukas muses, before giving Jesse a small smile and a pat on the back. "Don't worry, we can call him when we get inside."

"... okay." And Jesse manages to slide the mirror into their inventory without much trouble.

Petra stretches, squinting ahead at the gates. "Huh, there's not that much distance from here to there..."

A short pause.

She gives Jesse a little grin, red eyes sparkling in the sunlight.

"Wanna race there?"

* * *

Champion City is intimidating.

Well, actually, no, it's very pretty.

But with a red sky as a backdrop, and the fact that it looks clean enough for Jesse to put a sandwich on the ground and then later pick it up and eat it ( _not that they would_ ), they're a little cowed by how... _sleek_ it looks.

Many of the buildings tower up at least sixty times their height, white with blueish glass windows and quirky building shapes that look almost futuristic and little embellishments that are made of gold. What isn't a sleek, white color is green or some kind of flower.

The roads are paved neatly, unlike the safe road outside, with lighter-colored, newer bricks, and the lawns are arranged in perfect squares or rectangles. Even the flowers look neat.

Thus, Jesse is somewhat terrified to even sneeze, cough, or make any motion that might disturb this very pretty city, even though they just ran like heck to the gates of the city, very narrowly losing to Petra. It makes sense, they really were just in it to have fun and not really do anything urgent.

They do very much like the llama statue that is up the second they walk in, though, it's very cute and they give it a grin as they pass by.

( _They're pretty sure the statue beams back at them._ )

"It's really pretty here," Jesse says meekly, making Petra and Lukas glance down at them. Maya's also slowed down as Aiden and Gill jokingly bicker about something like soda prices in front.

(Well, Lukas inclines his head downwards, but it's the same thing.)

"It is, isn't it? I really love this place. The entire district of Hizelk and the border cities are a lot more peaceful compared to other places around Cosmos," Maya hums happily, giving a little hop and a skip.

( _She's_ really _happy._ )

"Fights don't really occur in Hizelk because the people are more interested in stuff like art and building. Actually, Yurin is redstone and machinery, Enchantra's magic, Narvid's fighting... all of the districts have their own things. Even Beacontown has a thing for defense and healing. Champion City's got this neat mix of fighting and art going on."

Jesse nods, noticing an official dueling stage where two demons are facing off. Interestingly, they don't have weapons. "Do they not use weapons to fight?"

"Oh no, they craft them. Holding a Hizelkian blade is just... _man_ , they know their stuff when it comes to balance and design. Narvid's more efficient in killing," Maya says casually and rather brightly, making Jesse nod politely and resist turning a bit paler, "and Yurin's definitely more focused on using machinery to add a little extra-"

She makes a violent sort of motion that Jesse automatically ducks at, before continuing her monologue happily. "And _man_ , Enchantra's weapons use magic to get some really neat effects, but Beacontown's weapons are more suited for defensive maneuvers and healing stuff. When fights take place in Hizelk or Enchantra, though, most of the people will use magic and spells rather than weapons. It's a lot less messy."

She notices Lukas giving her a slightly amused smile and tints pink, grinning at them. "Sorry, I just... I really love Hizelk. And Champion City's really, really awesome."

Petra grunts, making Jesse look over at the redhead. She's glowering at everything.

(One gardener, noticing her look, casually picks up his tools and moves away.)

"I hate it here."

Maya rolls her eyes and gently elbows Petra in the ribs. "Oh, don't be grumpy. You're just biased against the city."

"Yeah... the buildings are tall, but every single one of those apartments up there? They're all _exactly the same._ The top level ones are 'Diamond Class Apartments', but they're just a block wider."

Petra rubs the back of her neck, lip going between her teeth as she cuts off her rant to glance down at Jesse, who's blinking at her in confusion. "Stella's... strict about how things look here."

"Stella?"

"The baroness of Champion City." Lukas gives Petra a weird sort of grin. "Petra's... not that fond of her."

"Nope. Nope I am not." Petra crosses her arms, still walking, although Jesse can see a rather large scowl forming on her face now. "I don't like her at all."

"Aw, c'mon, give her a chance."

"Gave her one already. I didn't like what she was like."

"Give her another one."

"I don't like giving second chances, Lukas."

Jesse's so busy watching the two of them bicker teasingly back and forth that they almost miss the person with bright blue hair and purple eyes strolling past.

Wait, purple eyes?

Jesse's eyes follow them, noticing that a rather willowy figure with long blue locks and luminous violet eyes has ghosted past them. "... do all demons have primarily red eyes, or is that like... a genetic dominant trait?"

Lukas nods down at Jesse, having apparently spotted the person too. "For those with a human form, yes. What you just saw is a doll."

Jesse blinks at this.

Maya takes their bewildered silence to fill in. "Dolls in Cosmos can move because of magic. It can only carry out their master's commands, and has no will, soul, or emotions of its own."

She shifts and crosses her arms a moment later. "There's some myths that if an expert doll-maker creates a doll with strong feelings, or if someone can coax feelings and emotions out of a doll, they can gain souls of their own."

"I think it's bull; it's never happened before," Petra contributes rather lazily.

Lukas gives her a scolding sort of look; at least his lips turn down at the edges and he crosses his arms at her. "Well, doll-makers are really rare, anyway."

Jesse hums as they pass a shop window, a young woman sitting in it. Her eyes are glassy red, hair done up in a very pretty bun with a rose pinned in it and matching rose earrings. Her dress is elegant and deceptively simple, red vines curling up her arms prettily as her feet perch on the ground, seated on a chair. "'S that a doll too, then? Do you activate it or something before it can move?"

Maya takes a look at what Jesse's looking at for a moment. "Oh, no, that's a corpse."

"Oh, I s-"

Jesse abruptly stops walking, Lukas and Petra also being nice enough to come to a stop immediately while Maya trails ahead a step, stopping in front of them a moment later and turning around to see that Jesse's face has turned a very lovely shade of white, frozen in place as they blink a few times in what seems like bewilderment before cocking their head at her.

"I'm sorry, what?"

* * *

 **A/N: Annnnnnd that's all the time we have here today folks thanks for coming to my TED Talk**

 **lol next chapter'll be... interesting. I dread the explanation of the corpse xD**

 **Yes, that IS an actual corpse in the shop window, Maya was not joking. There is a... somewhat benign explanation for this.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **NinaNaranja: Oof, yeah, that sounds like a pain. I've still got a year to go before I graduate myself, haha. / Yes, I remember you well. You were great xD / Nope, not just you xD / Hehehe xD / Demons are great, yes xD**

 **Savannah-the-Caracal: Jesse's magic xD / Ahhhh thank you; I love this story x3 / Oh! Really? I didn't know what I was doing xD**

 **Toni42: They arreeeeee / Perhaps :3 / Yep, they're a huge magic nerd. Plus, it's so cool xD / I'm always stressed, nothing can be helped xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: Ye :3 / Indeed! It's kinda hard not to... unless you're Aiden xD / They don't do anything! They just sleep in the same room. It's always awkward for two people of two different genders to sleep in the same room. (Well, they do do SOME stuff beyond just sleeping in the same room, but I can assure you it's definitely not sex.) / Don't worry, I'm always stressed xD**

 **Welp! That's all for this chapter. See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	16. The Baroness

Maya nods, giving a mild hum at the lady in the window. "Yep. The people of Hizelk turn corpses into works of art, since... the other option is letting them rot, and demon bodies take a long time to start deteriorating, unlike human bodies. It's not strange to see people trading corpses here."

Lukas decides to plow in before Jesse can go from pure white to pure green. "Don't worry; Sky City and the cities bordering Hizelk have made it illegal to just kill someone for their body."

"There are always lawbreakers, though," Maya points out, sort of derailing what Lukas is trying to do.

Jesse's even paler than before, which is honestly more impressive than anything else.

"You, Petra, Lukas and I should be careful here. We might get targeted," Maya says cheerfully, patting Jesse on the back.

They go even paler. They are somehow even whiter than they were before, which is really saying a lot.

Petra gives Maya a perplexed grin. "Me, no way. Have you seen all the tattoos and scars and shit all over me? Any corpse artist would shudder if they got their hands on me."

"Oh, well, in that case, Maya can relax. Nobody would be interested in her."

Jesse starts a bit as Gill and Aiden appear behind Maya, apparently having realized the others have dropped behind and coming back as Gill shoots Maya an evil grin.

"What was that?" Maya's eyes narrow at him in a glare. She doesn't let him repeat what he just said. "I don't want to hear that from you!"

And Maya proceeds to elbow him in the gut, making him grunt slightly as she digs her elbow into what's gotta be a rather sensitive spot.

Gill mock-glares at her, crossing his arms and staring her down with his uncovered eye. "Oh? And what are you trying to imply?"

Aiden rolls his eyes, ignoring the other two as they start bickering. "I'm thinking we should split up to maximize our time. One or two of us should start looking around the market for supplies or see if we can find an inn to stay at for the night, and the rest of us should go greet Stella, since it'd be rude not to."

"As much as I would love to volunteer to go look in the market," Petra mutters, which makes a grin flicker over Aiden's face, "I think she'd find it pretty rude that not all of us are there to greet her. We can just try to hurry afterwards."

The half-demon hums, pondering this for a moment... before apparently deciding she's right, because he sighs and grabs ahold of Maya and Gill, ignoring their bickering, and literally proceeds to start dragging them down the street. "C'mon. Stella holds her office hours in the courtyard."

Jesse pops after him, Petra reluctantly following. Lukas keeps pace with Jesse pretty easily, giving them a bemused sort of smile a moment later.

"You're like one of those really tiny dogs that humans have and then go for a walk with."

Jesse blinks up at him, Petra glancing over at the blonde half-demon as she stays rather stiff, arms crossed in an annoyed fashion. (Her face does soften at Jesse having to crane their neck back to make eye contact with him.) "Really?"

"Yeah, your walk is adorable."

Jesse gives him a rather startled look at that, which makes him chuckle and scoop them up, their legs flailing in a little kick momentarily until he gets them situated. "Also, you have fluffy hair."

"Oh man, yeah." Petra reaches over and ruffles Jesse's hair vigorously, almost flipping it into their face from how much she does it.

Jesse shrinks back in surprise, the two of them breaking down in giggles a moment later as Lukas shakes his head in amusement and uses his hand to rake Jesse's hair back into a somewhat vaguely neat version of their hair.

Aiden opens the door to the courtyard, Gill and Maya hastily cutting their bickering short and straightening their clothing so it doesn't look like Aiden dragged them for thirty feet (even though he really did). Lukas sets Jesse back down, giving their clothing a little swat. "Okay, just, um... be polite to Stella."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jesse replies, blinking up at him.

He pats them on the head, making them blink again.

The courtyard has more (smaller) white structures in the center, a ring of white material around a small circle of grass with a raised podium area surrounded by the white structures. The moat ripples slightly in the breeze, water remaining blue despite the fact that the sky is... well, red, and the trees that are inside the courtyard are set up in perfectly spaced intervals.

Aiden scans the area, before humming and pointing. "There's Stella."

Jesse peeks through the crowd of people curiously, trying to make out who he's pointing at.

A second later, it becomes clear.

A young-looking woman has her hands folded in front of her as she listens to a citizen, a somehow-pleasant smirk on her face. Most of her blonde hair is on the left side of her face, sleek and shiny, while the other part is tucked behind her tanned ear. Her clothing is as crisp and neat as the rest of Champion City is; a pink shirt under a purple pinstripe suit jacket and suit skirt that hangs to her knees and contrasts very much against the typical black and red clothing. Her high heels aren't tall but still make her appear more slim and elegant than she already looks, red eyes fixated on the citizen she's speaking to as she tilts her head at him almost innocently a second later.

Right next to her is a llama that comes up to Stella's shoulder. She's got creamy white fur and blue eyes as she shuffles her hooves, the blue-and-purple scarf wrapped around her neck sort of matching Stella's scheme a little bit.

It's a very cute llama.

"Well, I'm afraid I can't help you too much at the moment." Stella pulls out a paper and hands it to him, tapping it in a few places.

"C'mon," Aiden mutters, making Jesse look up at him- and then he's walking into the crowd, shoving past people with an occasional gruff excuse me. Petra sighs and also moves into the crowd, all of them fitting into a single-file line and weaving through the crowd, though not very quickly.

This is mainly due to some of the other demons scowling at them and shoving them away or elbowing them back. Gill has to shove Maya down at one point to avoid some guy punching her in the face, glaring the demon down.

"I do see what your problem is, but I don't have much of a hand in that department," Stella's voice is clear as she continues speaking to the demon, although Jesse can no longer see her from the crowd surrounding them, "fill out this form and give it to the department on the top and they'll see what they can do."

Jesse makes it about two feet at about an inch every ten seconds before deciding that there's no way they're actually going to make it to the front before someone else gets her attention, not by shoving through the crowd in a single-file line that the crowd is also apparently trying to shove back.

They can't blame the other demons for doing it; they _were_ there first anyway.

They glance around, almost falling backwards a moment later as Lukas trips backwards and almost body-slams them, before sliding sideways through a narrow gap in the crowd. Being the size they are, it's not very difficult.

There's enough small gaps in the crowd that they are able to gently edge their way through, sidling past a demon that's aggressively giving Aiden a shove, Aiden shoving the demon back and very nearly bowling the demon into Jesse.

In fact, if they didn't dive through another small opening in the nick of time, the demon would've squashed them.

They lose track of what Stella's saying as they duck through the crowd, occasionally having to tap someone on the shoulder and meekly ask them if they can squeeze past. Most shrug and sidle past, although one gets very aggressive for a second until they see Jesse blinking up at them from practically half his height and simply shifting aside.

If Jesse's heart was still in their chest, it'd be beating its way right back out from how many demons keep giving them second glances. Reuben gives a reassuring oink at their feet, making them give him a little smile.

"... I think that should be it. Alright?"

Jesse abruptly squeezes through another narrow gap and finds themself popping out in the very front of the crowd, blinking in surprise as the wave of black and red clothing abruptly fades to reveal Stella still pointing things out on the paper to the other demon, who's nodding frantically at everything.

The citizen nods vigorously, bowing deeply and very hastily before grabbing the paper and running away.

Stella inclines her head, still smirking in a way that looks somewhat polite, and turns back to face the crowd. "Next, please."

Nobody moves to step forward, surprisingly.

Jesse glances around to see several eyes are fixed on them, flickering to Stella and then back to them. Which makes sense, 'cause they're technically at the front of the crowd, but they _did_ push their way there, and also, why are these demons acting more polite than the humans at home do?

The demon behind them nudges them forward a second later, when they just blink back at the other demons in slight confusion.

Which is a nice gesture, in theory, except Reuben happens to actually be by their feet and the nudge causes their foot to hook on Reuben and essentially slingshots them facefirst onto the floor.

... they make a sort of plopping noise upon doing so.

Reuben squeals when they don't even yelp ( _don't cry don't make a sound don't do it don't_ ) and nudges the side of their head.

There's another snuffle, and Reuben snuffles the back of their head, oinking slightly as Jesse takes inventory of their body. Face? Probably bruised. Rest of their body? Unharmed.

Then there's a little bleat from right above their head.

Jesse starts to push themselves up, the snuffling backing away as they blink a bit. Reuben's in front of them now, oinking and gently poking them with his nose. A hair of high-heeled shoes dashes over, and before Jesse can get all the way up a set of hands is tugging them up to their feet. High heels transfer to suit skirt to the pink shirt under the pinstriped purple jacket.

The white llama, upon seeing that Jesse hasn't broken their nose or various other parts of their face, starts chewing on Jesse's sleeve.

"Lluna, sweetie, I think we've discussed this..." Stella sighs, giving Jesse a somewhat concerned expression. "Ah, are you alright, sweetie? You literally just-" She makes a rather sharp motion like flopping onto the ground with her arm. "And, ooh, you've got a bit of a bruise on your forehead forming."

Jesse proceeds to reach up and poke their forehead to test this.

Yep, that's a bruise.

"Don't... honey, don't _poke_ that." And Stella tugs their hand away, giving them a look that says she's rather concerned about their sanity. Or their health in general. Or both.

"Jesse?! Holy _crap_ , that's a _massive_ bruise-" And Lukas is abruptly next to them both, lifting Jesse's chin up gently and wincing at said bruise. Thankfully, Jesse can't see it. "Damn. Uh, you should probably get a healing potion or a healing spell for that soon, then..."

The baroness blinks at him. "Lukas?"

He pauses, before glancing up at her and giving her a sheepish smile. "Uh... hey, Stella. We weren't expecting Jesse to, uh... faceplant." He turns his head at them, and Jesse gets the overwhelming feeling that he's playfully glaring at them. "Or to get to the front without us."

Stella blinks again, before a wry smile comes over her face. "Ahh, where's the rest of you? Didn't realize you got a new member. Been a pretty busy year for recruitment in Narvid?"

The blonde rubs the back of his head as the other four squeeze through the crowd. He almost looks sheepish. "Er, not... not exactly."

Aiden inclines his head politely upon drawing even with her. "Stella."

"Good day, October Children." Petra visibly winces as Stella says this just loud enough that the crowd behind catches this, a rumble of whispering rising into the air. "And hello to you too, Petra. I didn't expect you five to stop in for a visit."

She gives Jesse a small smile that seems a little at odds with the smirk she usually has on her face, voice lowering to a more conspiring tone. "Especially not with a little human like this." She glances back up at the group, arching one perfectly sculpted eyebrow at them, voice rising back to its original volume. "What business do you have here?"

Gill fiddles with his fingers, giving her a faintly awkward smile. ( _Maya seems to scowl a little at that._ ) "It's, uh... it's a bit complicated. You wouldn't mind if we explained later? Aiden's a bit impatient to get some supplies for what's ahead."

Stella arches her eyebrow again. "Are you on a mission, then?"

"Again... it's a bit complicated. We, um, we need someplace to stay for the night, since it's not a good idea to go traveling at night." Maya clears the scowl and smiles quite pleasantly at Stella. "Is there an inn or something that we could-"

"Oh, no, with such a cutie?" Stella gives Jesse a pat on the head, making them blink at her as she avoids bumping their forehead. "I sense a story. You _have_ to stay in the manor for the night."

"Oh, that'd be too much trouble-"

Stella cuts Lukas off again, taking his hands and giving them a squeeze, smiling at him with a dazzling grin that actually makes Jesse relax a little bit. "Oh, no, sweetie. I insist."

Aiden gives her a slightly warmer smile. "Well... thank you, Stella. That really saves us a lot of money and time."

"'Course, hon." She releases Lukas's hands and folds them behind her, tilting her head and giving him a pleasant smile. "Would you like to hammer out the details now instead of later?"

"I think that's for the best," Lukas speaks up, making both of them look at him, "we do need to go shopping for more supplies, so getting everything out of the way will probably save more time in the long run."

Stella hums, thumbing the corner of her mouth. "Alright, sweetie, that makes sense..."

Jesse watches the three of them start talking for a minute until they spot the frown on Petra's face as she stares at Stella. They watch her stare at Stella for a minute, before giving their head a tiny tilt. "You don't seem to like Stella much."

"I don't," is Petra's rather short reply.

They hum, glancing back at Stella. The woman is now beaming at Lukas as she speaks, looking for all intents and purposes like a very pleasant person. "Why not?"

"She just- she thrives on physical touch and just... attention. Literally." Petra sends a discreet scowl in Stella's direction, she doesn't really notice since she's still working out the lodging details with Aiden and Lukas.

Jesse blinks. "How do you mean literally?"

The redheaded demon crosses her arms, her red eyes clouding over as her lip peels back in a distasteful expression in Stella's direction. Granted Jesse hasn't _known_ Petra for that long, but they haven't seen the demon _this_ disdainful towards anyone else so far.

"She's a succubus."

* * *

 **A/N: No, Lukas wasn't flirting with Jesse; I just really love the way tiny dogs walk and think Lukas would find that adorable too. xD**

 **Jesse's gonna need something for the bruise, and... yeah, Stella's a succubus. Lovely. xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Toni42: Of course I do. It's my thing xD / Heeee x3 / Honestly, that's kind of why I decided to keep it being a Mimic Bird rather than some other bird. / Indeed xD / I love you more :3 / It's pretty normal in Cosmos. Primarily Hizelk. / The dolls are actually rather fun xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: Nyee :3 / Well, technically he's a demon lord, haha. / Nah, phoenixes are different. / It's not Cassie's work or Cassie at all; roses are just red. / Hehe, that's true. / Ahhh. They wouldn't do that either; I mean they'd probably bicker but they'd honestly be more interested in sleep. / Ah.**

 **NinaNaranja: Well, yes, but not for that reason xD / Yeah, I got the idea since Toni and I tend to roleplay with Jesse and since I use female and he uses male primarily we just made them nonbinary xD / Nah, I thought you were younger than me too xD / Hehe, that's fair.**

 **Darkbeast Dend: That's fair.**

 **That's all! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	17. Shopping

Jesse glances back at the list Aiden scrawled out earlier for them.

His handwriting isn't very neat, but it's at least legible, unlike the two items Gill grabbed the pen from Aiden and slapped onto the paper. It's so crooked and messy and tilted that Jesse can hardly make any of it out, although they're pretty sure they said he wants more bullets.

Maybe.

Maybe it says something about fish.

They actually really can't tell.

"Um, Aiden says we gotta get some potion ingredients, in case we gotta brew our own healing potions and we're not near a town," Jesse says, having to squint at the list a moment later to actually read it.

"Gl- glistering melon, nether wart, fermented spider eyes, rabbit's feet, golden carrots, a pufferfish ghast tears, um, phantom membrane-" Jesse has no idea what most of these things are but dutifully lists them anyway.

Petra lets out a long groan before Jesse can finish reading off everything on the list. "Ugh, typical. He gave us all the stuff to haggle for."

Jesse blinks twice at her. They currently have a rather large bandage stuck on their forehead to cover up the deep bruise forming from basically slamming their face into the ground, the list clutched in their hands and a basket hanging on their arm with Reuben sitting in it and snuffling happily. "Haggling?"

"Yeah. The prices of all these potion ingredients are freaking _sky high_. Phantom membranes can go for up to ten gold." Petra rolls her eyes at the sky. "Looks like Aiden wants me to negotiate the price lower."

Jesse blinks again.

"One diamond is made up of two emeralds, one emerald is made up of twenty gold, one gold is made of 10 irons, and one iron is made up of five coppers," Lukas offers after realizing they probably don't know what the currency system in Cosmos is made of. "Beacontown is a little more willing to just go for trades and favors- like, 'we'll get you this in exchange for this' and so forth."

"Oh."

Petra sighs again, glancing at Jesse. "Well, great. Looks like we're going to be trying to negotiate most of the time while shopping."

"Well, you're not bad at it," Lukas offers, giving her a faintly amused smile at the annoyed expression on her face.

Petra rolls her eyes at him. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean I want to do it nonstop. Anyway, what else do we need to get?"

Jesse looks down at the list again. "Um, he said we also need to get ten healing potions, five lingering potions of anything, ten splash potions of harm and five of whatever else you guys see fit, some potatoes, some carrots, some apples, dragon's breath... and ten potions of speed and leaping each."

"That _complete son of a bitch_ -"

* * *

"I'm sorry, but this potion is _extremely_ difficult to make," the stallkeeper apologizes to Lukas, fingering the phantom membrane and making Lukas wince as it ripples- phantom membrane is, to put it simply, rather nasty-looking. "And these ingredients are the _highest_ quality they can go for; any lower and I'd be losing money."

Petra gives the stallkeeper a frown, trying not to let her brow crease too much. "Really? You can only lower the price to seven irons?"

The stallkeeper gives another apologetic shrug.

Jesse pokes their head above the edge of the stall to look at the phantom membrane, which takes Petra by surprise since her elbow is about two inches from their head and she hastily shifts it out of the way to avoid clonking them on the bruise. "What's that?"

"Phantom membrane," Lukas replies instantly, turning to look down at them as they watch the stallkeeper pause in running his fingers repeatedly over the membrane, which flutters a little.

"What's that do in a potion?"

Petra pokes her tongue into her cheek, thinking this over. "Mm... if you fall off, like, a cliff or something, and you brew it with the right base, you'll fall a lot slower and thus take less damage."

"Ohh." Jesse tilts their head at it. "It looks gross."

"Yeah, uh, simply put the grosser it looks, the better-quality it is."

Lukas gives them a little shrug and a crooked smile when they shoot him the most confused look he's ever seen. "Yeah, it's a bit of a paradox. We don't know how to explain it. It's a mystery."

Jesse shoots him a somewhat wry smile at that. "The world may never know."

He pokes their cheek in response, making them giggle slightly.

The stallkeeper blinks at Jesse, before back up at Petra and Lukas. "... you have a human with you?"

Petra casually pushes Jesse back a step, regarding him coolly. This is probably partially because he's now staring at them and absentmindedly licking his lips. "Yeah. What's it to you?"

"It's just..." The demon leans closer, black hair falling into his eyes as he carefully regards Jesse, red eyes gleaming with interest. "I haven't seen an _actual_ human in a long time."

The stallkeeper regards Jesse for a minute, before glancing up at Petra and Lukas again, almost with interest.

"... you're that October Child guy, right? And the August Girl?"

Lukas nods, looking down at the ghast tears that are resting on the counter next to the phantom membrane. Well, his head tilts down, but he scratches at a knife gouge on the stall as if he's uninterested. "Yeah."

The stallkeeper presses his lips together for a moment, regarding Jesse, who's blinking up at him, and then looking back at the two half demons. "If you guys are with a human, that must make 'em pretty important..."

Another moment of thought, before he tilts his head at them, a strange smirk sneaking across his lips. "How about we make a little deal? We're not Beacontowners, but... this _does_ seem to be a special occasion, wouldn't you think?"

"What, you want to trade the human for the potion ingredients?" Petra drawls at him, sarcastically.

The stallkeeper perks up, eyes gleaming with a sudden interest. "That's an option?"

" _No!_ "

The demon smirks at the fact that both Lukas and Petra chorused this rather loudly and somewhat angrily, enough to have Lukas's head snap back up abruptly, Jesse startledly shrinking back at the raised volume. "Don't worry, I wouldn't risk upsetting either of your lords. No, ah, the actual deal is... I'll give you the potion ingredients you asked for at one iron for each group."

"That _is_ a good bargain." Petra raises her finger, narrowing her eyes at him. "What's the catch?"

The demon crosses his arms, leaning on the counter with a smirk. "The _catch_ is that you've got to have the human brew one potion successfully; else it jumps back up to the regular price."

Jesse blinks at this catch as Lukas frowns. "They've never brewed a potion before."

"Then help them out; I never did say they had to brew it by themselves. But no potion," and the demon mimes a little sarcastic pout, "No deal."

Petra stares him down for a minute, before crossing her arms and glancing down at Jesse. "Well, that's up to you..."

Jesse blinks at her for a moment, momentarily not realizing that she's addressing them, before giving a little "oh!" and then turning to blink at the potion ingredients on the counter.

Then up at the stallkeeper.

"Do you need a specific type of potion? I can try brewin' whatever you'd like."

* * *

"I can't believe we managed to avoid paying an arm and a leg for all that," Petra mutters darkly as they leave a moment later, Jesse swatting redstone dust off of their hands.

"Well, we _did_ have to use one of the golden carrots that we bought," Lukas mumbles.

Jesse blinks up at Petra and Lukas, trying not to drop the rather large backpack that they ended up having to stop at another stall to purchase because the potion ingredients were just too much for the basket and Jesse didn't want to drop them.

The backpack is green and they now look like a little turtle.

They're adorable.

"I didn't know brewing was so easy."

"Well, brewing _established_ potions are easy. Making new potions or potions with specific effects can be a massive bitch to pull off, but Ivor's _really_ good at it." Petra gives her head a shake. "He tried to teach me but stopped after he realized I didn't really have the head for it."

Lukas brightens a bit, giving Jesse's hair a little ruffle. "Hey, but that was really good for your first time. You're a natural."

They look at him, before ducking their head shyly. Petra can see the tiny smile forming on their face. "You were helpin'..."

"Yeah, but you really didn't need it that much." He gives their shoulder a squeeze, a smile forming on his lips. "That was really awesome. I'm excited to see if we can teach you more."

Petra can now see that their cheeks are a rather pretty rosy color, but as nice as it is, they do need to get on with the shopping, so she gives Jesse a quick pat on the head before putting a hand on her hip. "Well, we can teach 'em more after we shop for everything. What do we still need to get?"

Jesse checks the list again, still flushed a nice shade of pink as they squint at Aiden's handwriting. "The food and the potions." And they stand on their tiptoes to let Petra better see the list.

"Well, the food's easy," Petra hums after a second, "it's all cheap. That's good, I would've murdered Aiden if he made me haggle for every damn thing on the list."

Lukas gives the redhead a faintly scolding smile. "Don't exaggerate, Petra, you're going to scare Jesse."

"Who said I was exaggerating?"

The blonde half-demon clears his throat, his smile now a bit forced, and starts steering Jesse down the street. "Well! I think it's time we move to the next thing on the list. Jesse, do you want the food first or the potions?"

"I don't really mind..."

Petra rolls her eyes as the half-demon proceeds to ask Jesse about fifty questions about the shopping to take their mind off of her nonchalant comment and trails behind, watching Reuben snigger happily near Jesse's feet as the human bewilderedly answers his questions.

* * *

Petra checks the time after a while. "Huh, we've still got about twenty minutes before we have to meet back up with Aiden, Maya, and Gill."

She lifts her head and gives Jesse a little grin. "Which means we can get you at least one extra set of clothes."

Jesse immediately pops their hands up and flails them a little, shaking their head. "Oh, no, you don't have to-"

"Nah, if we ever do laundry we can't have you just wearing your footie pajamas. I mean, imagine if we're out in public." Lukas gives them a little grin as they turn rather pink at the prospect. "Plus, your clothes _do_ look kind of big on you. Most demons aren't as small as you- no offense," he adds quickly.

"None taken, I'm tiny."

Petra stoops down to rub Reuben's head and hide the grin that spreads across her face at that comment.

"Uh... well, yeah, but we can probably find you something that fits decently in the shop. Plus, if we get you a jacket or something, you can blend in with most demons a bit more. Your clothes are a bit..."

"Colorful?" Petra chimes in, grinning at Lukas.

"... I was going to say bright, but yeah, that works. Compared to what most demons or half-demons wear, uh," Lukas glances at their overalls and the brightly-colored shirt underneath, "yeah, you're practically a literal ray of sunshine."

Jesse nods, taking this in. "Okay... so get me a jacket, a shirt, and some pants, basically?"

"Yeah. Man, I kinda wish Maya came along, I'm no good with clothes." Petra shifts back into a standing position, hand on her hip as she regards Jesse. "Least it's just going to be a simple three articles of clothing."

"Don't ever say that in front of Maya; it's going to take twelve hours to get said three articles of clothing," Lukas teases back, grinning at her before looking at Jesse. "... hm, should just get a black jacket, a red shirt, and some dark pants. It'll do wonders for blending in, and you can put the jacket on over your old clothing, too."

Jesse bobs their head as Petra nods as well, before glancing at the clothing store nearby.

There's a long pause before she looks over at Jesse. "Jesse, you go and pick what you want."

Lukas gives her a long look, the blindfold hiding most of his expression except for the fact that his lips are in a straight line. "... the clothing store is not going to eat you alive."

She swats him.

Jesse giggles at the exchange before ducking inside the store, Reuben galloping behind them and slowing to a trot as they start poking through several racks of clothing.

Since they're only buying three articles of clothing and they don't really care about the design or the fit ( _since they can tell from a glance that most everything is going to be gigantic on them if they get anything larger than an extra-small and even that's a bit baggy_ ), they just grab the first thing they like and is available in an extra-small (which is nearly everything, somewhat unsurprisingly).

They do find a nice fuzzy black jacket, though.

They like fuzzy things.

After finding a red shirt that looks plain and not like someone has run it through a blender and some pants that are just as nice and plain, they scoop everything up and head to where a demon with a nose ring and about thirty piercings is at the counter, some other demon already standing in line and chatting to the cashier. Being shy, they don't really want to bother the cashier, so they stand in line and wait, still holding their clothing.

About what feels like three minutes of waiting later, they become aware that something is tugging their hair slightly, although not enough for it to be really painful. In trying to turn around to look at it, the tug abruptly becomes painful, so they give up and peek into a nearby mirror.

Right behind them is a small white llama happily chewing on their hair, scarf hanging around her neck.

"Oh! I'm sorry, sweetie." Stella tugs the llama (Lluna? Jesse's not really sure) a few steps away from Jesse to avoid having a llama chew on their hair, giving them an apologetic smile. "Are you buying clothing along with your supplies, then? I was just stopping in to check something."

Jesse nods, holding the black fuzzy jacket they found to their chest, along with the red t-shirt and slightly overlarge dark blue jeans.

( _And an extra belt. There's no way they're going to be able to wear these pants without a belt._ )

"Yeah, I'm just waitin' for the cashier." Jesse points at the demon in front of her, who is still chatting away with the one in the first place in line.

Stella hums, thumbing the corner of her mouth as she glances at the cashier, before rolling her eyes. "Sweetie, they're just socializing."

Jesse glances back at the counter. Now that they're listening more closely, they can hear the cashier talking about some machine in Yurin that sounds remarkably like a computer to Jesse. Their cheeks pink.

"Oh."

Stella regards the demon ahead of them, before giving Jesse a pleasant smile. "You know what, sweetheart? I'll handle it."

"Oh, no, you don't have t-" Too late. Stella's already breezing up to the counter, humming something sweetly to the demon behind the counter, who looks vaguely annoyed at being interrupted for a minute before her scowl softens.

Stella wraps an arm around her loosely, tugging her into a loose hug and giving the demon a coy smile before leaning forward and murmuring softly into her ear, softly enough that Jesse can't catch any of it.

The cashier gives a huff of laughter, cheeks pinking as a huge smile spreads over her face, before beckoning Jesse forward and taking the items, ringing them up as Stella keeps chatting with the cashier idly, something about "how's your day going, sweetheart?" and complimenting the one that the cashier was talking to, that demon shuffling his feet sheepishly and blushing at the comment.

"That'll, um," the cashier gives a giggle, offsetting the appearance of the piercings and tattoos quite effectively as she glances down at Jesse. "That'll be four iron."

Jesse fishes four iron that Lukas handed them for change and quickly press it into her hands, where she then puts it away, folds the clothing up quickly with Stella still wrapped around her in a hug, and hands them to Jesse. "Thank you for shopping here."

Stella gives a sweet laugh and presses a little kiss to the demon's cheek, which makes them flush an even brighter pink. "Alright, I'll be back later. Alright, sweetie?"

Jesse would probably watch this exchange more, except Lluna decides now is a good idea to butt her head into Jesse's stomach and steer them around to the front of the store.

They're nearly at the door when Stella catches up, giving Jesse a breathtaking grin. "Well! That was easy. I thought I was going to have to bribe her with more."

Jesse can spot Lukas and Petra talking ahead as they exit the store, but they give her a grateful little smile. "Thank... thank you. I didn't realize your girlfriend was the cashier," Jesse timidly hums, holding their new clothes to their chest in a little hug.

"Oh, that wasn't my girlfriend. I've never met her before," Stella says cheerfully, before nodding in Lukas and Petra's direction. "I have to go check on something else before tonight; would you mind letting Lukas and Petra know I said hello?"

They look back to see Lukas waving and beckoning Jesse with a smile, while Petra develops an interest in the ground. "I think they saw you."

Stella glances back. "Ah. So they have." She waves back cheerily before giving Jesse another smile and a little pat on the head. This makes Jesse blink owlishly up at her. "Well, I'll see you later tonight, sweetie."

Jesse bobs their head. "Okay. Have a good time with whatever you're checking on."

Stella gives a sigh, still smiling cheerily. "Rather unlikely, but thank you." And off she goes, in high heels that Jesse would immediately faceplant in with Lluna clopping along next to her.

"Was she in the store with you?" Petra asks, scowling as Jesse draws even with the two half-demons.

Lukas gives her a rather unimpressed look. "Yes, as Petra said, hello, Jesse."

Petra gives him a playful smack as Jesse gives a sheepish little smile. "Yeah, she helped me get my stuff purchased." They lift the bundle of clothes carefully.

"Ugh. I hate her guts."

Well, at least Petra's honest about it.

"Well, fun fact about Stella," Lukas mumbles to Jesse amusedly as Petra glares at a nearby wall, "she's the only baron in Cosmos who's a succubus. She's the first baron in Cosmos _ever_ to be a succubus ever, actually."

Jesse's eyes widen. "Really? That's... that's really impressive."

"I have no idea how the world decided she was a good choice." Petra scowls at the floor. "She fucking flirts with everyone and is all touchy-feely with every demon she meets and she never takes anything seriously. She's an arrogant airhead who I absolutely abhor with every atom in my being."

"Hey, that was kind of alliteration."

Petra smacks Lukas again.

* * *

 **A/N: Why is this chapter the longest one so far despite being literal shopping fluff...**

 **Welp, that's that chapter! Next one is... actually one I've sort of been looking forward to. (You'll see why, I guess.)**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Thanks! I'm glad it makes sense. xD**

 **CrazyNinjagoFan1: Ahhhh thank you! I love it too, haha.**

 **NinaNaranja: Eh, she's got her reasons. / Indeed xD / Well, keep in mind they've been taught that crying will result in getting punished, so... / (pats) / Ahhh, you're... welcome, I suppose xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: No, I know that, but on the map of Cosmos, Duomoon is on the complete other end of Hizelk, in the North. Cassie Rose wouldn't have anything to do with roses; the flowers in Cosmos sometimes resemble roses so that's what Jesse calls it. / Indeed xD / Well, humans ARE a delicacy, so... it's kind of not weird. Also, they're adorable. / A succubus, in October Children's definition and in some general definitions, are female demons that feed off of love or sexual attraction. Hence why she literally thrives on physical touch and attention.**

 **Toni42: Yeah, although it's less of a thing in Narvid- there you have traditional cremations, Yurin you're turned into machinery parts, Enchantra you become an enchantment booster, and Jupin you can pick however you want to be remembered- some people choose to be crafted into weapons, or added as an addition to their weapons. / Yep, enough to have a bandaid slapped on it. xD / xD Ye**

 **cel: I'm really glad you're enjoying it so far!**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	18. Succubus

**Mention of nonconsensual sex and very intimate cuddling in the chapter.**

* * *

Meeting up with the others takes much longer than Jesse expected.

In fact, it doesn't even happen.

Actually finding the meeting spot isn't the difficult thing, although Jesse catches a glimpse of several rather pretty flowers on the way to the meeting spot. They would buy some seeds for Aiden, but they don't know if there're any flowers he particularly likes, so they just leave it.

By the time they get there, the sun is already casting slightly longer shadows across the ground, but none of them mind, especially since Aiden, Maya, and Gill aren't quite there yet, so it's not as if they kept the others waiting.

They just sit down on a bench, Petra quickly tugging the jacket onto Jesse and almost smothering them with it at one point since she is keeping an eye on every demon that happens to pass by and doesn't notice where she was moving her hands.

She apologizes furiously upon realizing her mistake.

After a while, Lukas ceases putting away a magic-summoned visual illusion clock that he keeps checking every five minutes, allowing Jesse to watch the minute hand steadily tick past five minutes, then ten, then twenty, then two hours.

The blindfold, of course, hides his expression for the most part.

But Jesse can tell he's getting worried.

By the time the sun is touching the horizon, Petra and Lukas have started quietly talking while Jesse fondles Reuben's ears and the pig oinks happily in their lap, butting his nose against their arms while also glancing at Petra and Lukas periodically. They can catch different phrases and comments, but without context they sound scarier than they probably are.

 _... causing trouble..._

 _... tight situation, maybe?..._

 _... do you think maybe...?_

After the sun has descended halfway past the horizon and the streetlights start coming on, Petra taps Jesse on the shoulder, giving them a light smile that Jesse can still feel the tense anxiety in.

"Hey, Jesse, uh... we're thinking about leaving you at Stella's place and let you get set up while we go check and make sure Gill and Aiden didn't get drunk or something. Wouldn't be the first time."

They don't tell her they can read the lie in her voice.

They don't tell her they can tell that she isn't being entirely truthful, they can tell that she just wants to make sure they're in safer hands than just bringing them along in the search, that they're going to be a nuisance and a bother and a distraction if they come along while they are searching for the other half-demons.

They don't tell her that they are worried too.

They just give her a bright smile and a nod.

"Okay."

* * *

Jesse's sort of glad they found that pair of footie pajamas in the dresser back at the castle in the Underneath. They're really nice for keeping drafts out and making them not feel cold, even if it does make them look tiny.

( _Which it does._ )

The manor that Stella lives in is (unsurprisingly) somewhat minimalistic, being constructed of white material (quartz?) on the outside and birch and acacia wood on the inside, pretty white flowers with black leaves that Jesse doesn't recognize sitting in pots periodically along the hallway.

Honestly, they'd be happy to look around, except they're worried about the other October Children ( _they're not kids, that's such an awkward name_ ) and they're not sure how comfortable they are walking around someone else's house with only the owner of the house there, so they just give Stella a cheerful 'night' and head to bed.

So now here they are. Wrapped in a blanket with the lights off and staring at the city lights leaking through the curtains in their room.

Worrying.

A knock on the door, so quiet that if Jesse was asleep they'd never catch it and just keep slumbering. As it is, they almost think they're imagining things for a moment.

Until it comes again.

"Hello?" they call back to the door, Reuben oinking in surprise at the sudden sound from Jesse.

There is a long, long, poignant pause where Jesse's looking at the door and still trying to figure out if they're imagining things, and they've decided it's just their imagination when a voice leaks through.

"May I come in?"

Jesse blinks at the sound of Stella's voice, muffled by the fact that there's a door barring the way between the two of them. "Stella?"

The succubus is quiet for a moment.

Jesse realizes they never answered her question and flail around in the blankets in an attempt to disentangle themselves. "U-uh, yeah. Yeah, you can- you can come in- hang on-"

The door ekes open from the other side, Jesse pausing while tilting halfway out of the bed before plopping to the floor altogether.

Stella gives a soft, vaguely exasperated hum, and Jesse is abruptly being picked up and pushed back into the blankets, the blonde succubus looking faintly amused in the darkness of the room. "You just love falling everywhere, don't you, sweetie."

Jesse's not quite sure how to answer that, so they just give a noncommittal hum. "Are Lukas and Petra back yet? Did they find the others?"

The succubus gives her head a shake, which makes Jesse's heart sink a little bit. "I'm sorry, sweetie, I didn't come in here because of that. They're still out looking for the other October Children."

"Oh." Jesse slumps a bit in the bed, blinking at her. "Well... uh... what are you doing in here, then? It's..."

Jesse automatically looks around for a clock. Stella watches them in slight amusement as they search the room, scanning the darkness as if a clock will randomly start glowing, before helpfully adding, "It's 2 in the morning."

"Oh." Jesse pauses. "What're you doing in here at two in the morning, then?"

Stella is silent for a moment, regarding them with red eyes. Jesse blinks back at her rather blankly, feeling their cheeks pink slightly from the attention. They're about to ask again when-

"Can we cuddle?"

Jesse nearly bangs their back into the headboard at the sudden and rather bluntly asked question, blinking at Stella confusedly. "What?"

"Can we cuddle? Snuggle. Hug." Stella shifts, frowning slightly. "Don't think there's more synonyms for it."

The human blinks at her, twisting their fingers absentmindedly as they consider the offer. "Oh."

Well, she _was_ nice enough to let them all stay in _her_ house, and she was kind enough to come in and check on Jesse, and it _was_ just cuddling, it was only a _little_ favor...

It was fine.

"Sure."

Stella's lips part in a strange smile, her head cocking to the side as her red eyes gleam with interest. "Really?"

"Uh-huh..." Jesse hugs the blanket closer to their chest, giving her a little smile. "We can cuddle."

"Alright. Scoot over."

Jesse obediently nudges themselves to their right as they sink back onto the pillows, allowing Stella to clamber onto the bed while Reuben crawls to their feet. It creaks under her weight slightly, her weight being just enough to make Jesse roll slightly back to their left until their shoulders are touching.

Instantly, Stella's hand snakes up their side and pulls them closer, leaving a tingling sensation along Jesse's side until they abruptly find their head buried in her shoulder, their stomachs practically pressing together as she pulls them flush against her body, tangling a hand in their hair as if they're hers.

Jesse's breath catches in surprise at the aggressiveness of the cuddle, but Stella's already resting their chin on their shoulder and pressing her cheek to theirs, fingers tracing up their side and making tingles spread from the spot, over and over and over.

 _Too close._

Stella hums, voice lowered to a seductive purr as she traces patterns and lines and curves up their side from where they're practically pressing up against her.

They can feel a lock of her hair curled on her shoulder and hear her heartbeat and feel warm skin right up against theirs, mouths and noses close enough that any inhale is her inhale and her exhale is their exhale, breathing mixing together until Jesse can't tell whose is whose and the room feels like it's spinning.

 _Too intimate._

Jesse tries not to pull away, but they can't help but tense up as she gives a little husky hum, hand still tracing patterns over their pajamas and making little shivers come up their back.

Succubus.

Stella's a succubus.

They don't know why that just now comes into their head.

Trace down their back, tugging at their collar briefly, almost pulling it down slightly, catching briefly on their back, a little light hum sounding from deep in her throat.

 _Too much._

"Stop! Stop, stop, I-" Jesse chokes out, squeezing their eyes shut tightly so that they see nothing but darkness and feeling tears beginning to leak out of the corners of their eyes. "I don't want to do this anymore!"

They expect Stella to snap that she doesn't care, or purr into their ear that it doesn't matter, aren't they having _fun (no)_ , aren't they _enjoying_ this ( _no no no_ ), don't they want to _keep going (no no no please no_ )

What they don't expect is for the tight grip on them to loosen abruptly before vanishing entirely, leaving their cheek feeling cold all of a sudden, a soft click sounding a moment later and warm light making the inside of their eyelids appear dimly red.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you that uncomfortable."

Jesse shifts around to peek around at Stella, cautiously opening their eyes.

Stella's seated a little further away from them, one arm resting on the bedside table with the redstone lamp on it. Her brow is furrowed with worry and apology as she regards them, loose t-shirt still hanging off of one shoulder. Her hair, somehow, still looks nearly perfect.

"Are you alright?"

Jesse gives a tiny shiver, slowly shifting so that they're also shifting, trembling back resting against the headboard, Stella's red eyes following them worriedly. "I-I'm okay."

The baroness barely relaxes, still frowning worriedly at Jesse. "Sweetheart, you're trembling like a leaf." She taps the corner of her lip, brow furrowing even more. "Are you not comfortable with that sort of thing?"

"... n... not _that_ much..." Jesse's still a little stiff, hands twitching as Reuben noses his way over, oinking in concern. They pull him into their lap, pressing their hands to his head gently as the pig oinks and nuzzles their hands.

Stella winces. "Ah, I'm sorry. I've been doing my best to keep feeding myself regularly, but it gets a bit difficult to do when I only go on inspections and such every once a week."

"... feeding yourself...?" Jesse frowns. "Wait, so... you have sex with people once a week?"

The baroness chokes for a moment, red eyes going from confusion to shock to understanding, before she gives a rather sweet laugh. "Oh, no, no, honey, uh, there'd be a problem with that."

She pauses.

"There would be several problems with that."

Jesse blinks at her. "But you're a succubus-"

"Sweetie, yes, I _am_ a succubus... but not the kind you're thinking of." At Jesse's confused expression, Stella elaborates. "Most succubi are what humans typically think of when they think of succubi- a demon that feeds off of sexual attraction and energy. However, I've got a recessive gene or... _something,_ that makes me able to feed on all types of love, rather than just sexual love."

Jesse blinks again.

"Familial love, romantic love, just... _any_ love in general." Stella presses a hand to her collarbone. "I can feed off of all types of love, rather than limiting myself to just sexual love."

She pauses, before a tiny smile crosses her face. "Which is helpful, as I am demisexual." She doesn't wait for Jesse to look confused and explains it anyway. "I basically don't feel sexual attraction unless I have a strong emotional attachment with that person. I don't like having sex with people I don't know well."

Jesse can feel their shoulders untense slightly, despite the fact that their hands are still trembling. "You don't?"

"No. I tend to go for smaller things that aren't as filling, like kissing... flirting... sometimes considering someone family, but I only really have that rapport with Lluna," Stella muses.

They blink again.

(They tend to blink a lot in response to things.)

"Why don't you try to fill yourself up? If you can take any type of love, then why don't you just eat until you're full?" Jesse pauses, before giving her a tiny, shaky smile. "Uh, with permission."

Stella seems rather received about the smile, even if it is trembly.

"Well... you see, there _are_ a few succubi and incubi like me- they can take in any type of love and not just sexual energy. But, ah, being able to take in all _that_ energy can lead to... taking _too_ much. It's- hm." Stella huffs, looking down at the blanket on the bed and tracing an absentminded pattern on it.

A moment later, she looks back at Jesse. "Alright. Think of it this way. Humans have apple trees, right?"

At Jesse's nod, she continues. "Imagine what you usually do when you want food from the tree- you just pick the apples. This way the apples can grow back later, although it takes a while, and you can walk around and pick as many from as many trees. Right?"

"Right..."

"What succubi that can feed on _any_ type of love do, is that to get the apples, they cut down the entire tree. They take too much, so now while they have, in the short term, a huge food supply, they've lost a future one."

Stella spreads her hands. "They simply take the ability to love from the person and break them beyond repair."

Jesse's eyes widen. "... oh."

"Yes... hence why I tend to avoid feeding so much on people. It's very easy to get carried away, even once one's full." Stella shifts in the bed, tracing the pattern on the bed. "For the most part, I just do some small flirting here and there, or the occasional kissing session, or so on so forth, until I'm satisfied enough to at least not be starving."

"Oh." Jesse considers this, tilting their head. Their hands are still trembling, but it's significantly less so than before. "Is that why Petra doesn't like you? 'Cause you flirt with lots of people?"

"Well, no," Stella cuts herself off, brow furrowing as she ponders the answer to Jesse's question, her expression changing with every thought that arrives.

A minute ticks by. Then two.

Finally, the blonde succubus looks back at Jesse, her expression looking a little apologetically wary.

"Petra may not like me because I had nonconsensual sex with her."

Jesse blinks once at the rather blunt statement.

Then twice.

"What?"

Stella flails her hands at the way Jesse's face drains of color, her own expression becoming even warier. "I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to, I swear! What happened was... it was... completely my fault. And I'd apologize for it a thousand times over if Petra so much as was willing to enter the same room alone with me, and it was the first time I've slipped in a long time-"

"Slipped?"

Jesse's trembling again. Reuben noses his way into Jesse's arms more snugly.

Stella takes a deep breath, putting her hands up carefully in surrender. Her expression is now incredibly wary.

She looks as if she's afraid of shattering them.

"Alright. So, I explained how I feed on any type of love, yes?"

Jesse gives a little nod. "Yes..."

"Okay. Now, while normal food does have _some_ effect, it's a very short-term effect, and it's a band-aid on the situation. It doesn't do much to really _fix_ it, but it does keep me from starving to death in a short amount of time, although I eventually have to feed again if I want to stay alive. Occasionally, the need for food will take over, and I will end up doing something incredibly out-of-character."

Jesse's listening. Pale and slightly frightened, but they are listening.

"I have only done so twice in my life. This was the second time. Both times were equally mortifying. Now, if you've been around many incubi or succubi- which you probably haven't- you'll have learned to recognize this effect that succubi naturally emit. They tend to have a sort of mild hypnotic effect, which will make whoever they're speaking to or near much more pliable to any actions that the succubus might take. This effect gets progressively stronger as the succubus gets hungrier."

Jesse thinks they know where this is going, but they listen anyway.

"Now that you have the background information, let me explain what happened. Because of a particularly nasty duel we had in Champion City, I ended up having to do quite a lot of paperwork for two weeks. This meant I was unable to feed at all for the next two weeks, especially because Lluna went wandering off somewhere."

She foresees their question. "Lluna tends to wander around Champion City every once in a while. She smells treasure and... that means she gets sidetracked. Anyhow, I was unable to feed, and was getting progressively hungrier."

Stella gives a long, slow sigh. "And then Petra came in. And it was different, because I was literally _starving_. I _needed_ to feed at that point. The actual food I was eating was doing little to nothing to keep me from taking everything from someone. And... well, at that point, the charm I emitted was strong to the point where I could've told her to off herself, and she would've done it."

Jesse goes a little paler.

"But I didn't. I didn't do that, because that isn't what I needed. I needed love. And the quickest way to get love is..." Stella pauses, before giving Jesse a little humorless smile. "Well, there's a reason that even the rare succubi are known as demons who lust after sexual energy."

"She agreed. I asked her if she could, and she bent easily and incredibly quickly to it. And I was... fine, afterwards. I didn't fill up all the way, because..." Stella pauses, a look of intense shame coming over her features. "After the immediate need was satisfied, I realized what I'd just done."

The baroness gives a long breath. "And after the charm wore off, she realized too."

Stella glances at Jesse, who's still rather pale. "It was a bad decision on my part. Actually, never mind that, it was a terrible decision on my part. And if I could... I would've found some way to find _something_ to feed on before it would've happened that way."

A rueful smile creeps across her features. "Hindsight is 20-20, as I believe a human saying goes."

"... I see..."

"I'd apologize- I _did_ apologize. But at this point..." Stella gives a regretful shrug. "I don't think she'd believe me. And she'd have every right not to."

She looks back at Jesse, red meeting big green ones. "I won't say that what I did was wrong, because it was. And I won't say that you shouldn't be worried. Because you should be worried about everyone you meet here, considering we're all demons. But I _will_ say that that is _not_ something I would do under any circumstance, and that shouldn't have ever reached that point."

"... okay." Jesse leans the side of their head into her shoulder, ignoring the way she tenses in surprise. "... you won't do it again?"

Stella pauses.

Then looks back at Jesse.

"I am not certain I can say that. But I am certain that I can try my hardest to not allow something as _stupid_ as that to take place again."

The tiny seventeen-year-old lets out a brief breath, edging closer and clutching her t-shirt sleeve tightly with trembling fingers. Reuben remains in their lap, snuffling quietly and giving Stella a wary look. "Okay. If you say that you'll try your best not to, I believe you."

Stella's eyes flicker to them.

"I don't know you very well. But I don't think you're a bad person." Jesse gives her a small smile as they look up at her. "Even if Petra won't let you, though, I think it's worth apologizing again. Or at least show her that you're really sorry."

Slowly, the baroness lets her head slowly tilt until she is resting her cheek on their head.

"... I would be happy to apologize to her."

They want to believe the best of people.

They want to think the best of people, and trust them, and care about them. It's in their nature, just like it's in Stella's nature to have a hypnotic effect around her.

But perhaps that's part of the problem.

* * *

Petra's arms are crossed as she rests her head on the wall, listening to the silence through the open-by-a-crack door.

"Petra?"

Her head twists around to see Aiden, rubbing the ice pack that he's holding to his neck along the large bruise. Red eye blinks a few times as he glances at the room, before back at the redheaded half-demon.

"They're asleep?"

Petra shrugs. "I don't really know if they're _asleep_ , but I don't think we should bother them. They'll see you guys are okay in the morning."

 _And she doesn't want to go into the room with Stella there._

Aiden hums, rubbing the bruise and repressing a small wince. "Hm. True."

Lukas rounds the corner, lips tilting down in a frown at Aiden. "Aiden, be more careful, you're going to spill the ice everywhere... you're lucky you guys just got bruised up."

"You should see the other guy," Aiden replies tartly and quietly, which makes Lukas snort slightly before glancing at Petra.

"Is Jesse asleep?"

The redhead shrugs again. "I think they're either asleep or talking to Stella, but they haven't talked for much, so I'm not really sure."

Aiden rubs his bruise again, wincing. "Oh. You being a creeper and listening in on the entire conversation again?"

Petra huffs and marches over, smacking him right on the bruise. This, of course, makes Aiden hiss angrily and clap a hand to his bruise, red eye flashing at her as he half-mock-glares at her. "Fuck you, you dick. Of course not. I just heard a little bit of it."

And perhaps it's because Lukas is preoccupied with scolding Aiden and Maya and Gill (who has a rather large cut on his shoulder from a bottle and Maya is currently stabbing it with a cotton ball and some very strong alcohol that Petra personally thinks tastes great and Lukas thinks it could strip paint) like a mother hen, but he doesn't catch her out on her fib.

No.

No, she didn't just hear a little bit.

She heard Stella's whole confession.

And it's not acceptable. It's not something Petra can just forgive and forget. What Stella did isn't something that Petra can just go "oh no worries" and let go.

And from the way that Petra can hear Jesse shaking and trembling through the door, Jesse doesn't feel that way either.

But Jesse seems to be willing to at least forgive, if not forget.

Perhaps that's worth considering.

* * *

 **A/N: Yep, I'm so asexual... the cuddling part where it got a little intimate was just insanely uncomfortable for me to write, for some reason xD It wasn't even THAT bad xD**

 **Ugh. Tests pretty much consumed my past week. I took two tests today for the same teacher and also bruised my ankle. I'm ready for winter break. I'll try to update more now. xD**

 **Nonconsensual sex, by the way, is _never_ okay. Don't get me wrong, Jesse didn't just let it go. But they also believe in second chances for those who deserve it. For those who are really, truly sorry about something they did, who maybe didn't mean to do it, and for someone who will never, _never_ repeat the mistake.**

 **Forgiving is not about forgetting. But a life without forgiving anyone, ever...**

 **You deserve better.**

 **You deserve peace.**

 **And sometimes, that's why you forgive someone.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Toni42: Hehe x3 / Yes, Turtle Jesse xD / Indeed he would. He'd be quite happy, actually xD / It is xD / No, and we found out why.**

 **TheAmberShadow: Yep! / Hehe, yes. / Since he's selling potion ingredients and not pork, he's not going to care about a pig. Also, Cosmos animals can actually be poisonous in some cases. / Petra hates clothes shopping, and there's also a law in Champion City that would make it easier to keep watch and keep Jesse safe from outside the store than if they entered with them. / No. Stella actually does weekly inspections of inventory and such; partially because some stores do actually get a wide variety of materials, but also because of the reasons listed in the chapter.**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Because Stella actually has some semblance of self-control. xD**

 **LegendEmpress: Pft, that's pretty much a good summary. / Lore. I like worldbuilding more than I expected. I should've really put a 'I'm looking forward to it but also terrified' since writing it was such a pain xD / It's really not that complicated; the world also picks barons, and Stella was mostly the best demon for the job. / Thank you!**

 **Savannah-the-Caracal: He has abysmal handwriting. / Eh xD / Also, don't use useful... PAMA will get you :3 Just kidding. PAMA won't get you. xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	19. Hizelk

Jesse doesn't really remember falling asleep.

They sort of vaguely remember leaning their head tentatively on Stella's shoulder for a long while, and then they abruptly wake up with their face pressed to the pillow and Reuben snuffling in his sleep in their arms.

So that's a thing that Jesse wakes up with, blinking blearily and being incredibly disoriented about everything.

After a while of trying to decide what to wear, they put their overalls on over their new red shirt and tug on the fuzzy black jacket, padding through the hallways in their socks ( _Stella made them take off their shoes the second they walked into the house the night before, and they can't blame her because_ look at this floor) until they manage to find the kitchen.

Their face practically lights up at the fact that they see Aiden at the counter, despite the fact that he's holding an ice pack to his neck and... well... it's Aiden.

"You guys are back!"

Aiden jumps, banging his knees into the counter with a swear and almost fumbling the ice pack as he spins around on the chair to see them, long enough for Jesse to spot the deep purple bruise at the base of his neck before he claps the ice pack back to it.

"Oh. Hi." He rubs a hand down his face, looking vaguely irritated and tired- Jesse can see some bags under his eyes. "Uh... morning. You're up early."

"Mmhm." Jesse treads closer, regarding the area that he's holding the ice pack to with slight concern. "What happened yesterday? We got really worried."

"Bar fight." Aiden winces as he presses the ice pack a little too deep into the bruise. "We got all the stuff on our list, so we decided we wanted to see if there was more info floating around about the issue or even the party, but then some demon got a little too handsy with Maya and... well, things went downhill from there."

"Oh." Jesse frowns at the bruise. "Did you guys get too beat up?"

Aiden gives a grunt. "Not really. Gill's got a split lip and a black eye, and Maya's got a massive bruise on her calf, and I've got this gem from some demon who managed to punch me, but otherwise we ended up a lot better than the other guys."

Jesse hums, twisting the sleeve of their new jacket and giving him the tiniest little smile. "Well, I'm glad you guys are okay."

Aiden grunts again in response, and the room falls into a very stilted silence.

"How long've you been icing the bruise?" Jesse asks, when the silence gets to be quite awkward and they've decided they don't really feel like just standing and watching Aiden hold the ice pack to the rather purple bruise.

Aiden glances at them, still holding the ice pack in place. "Past seven hours."

"Oh! No no no, don't do that," and Jesse quickly pads across the kitchen floor and tugs his hand free hastily, "you should really only ice the bruise for ten minutes at a time and then wait twenty minutes to put it on again. If Stella's got a heating pad or something that'd be better; that makes bruises heal faster, since... you've already got a really big one."

Aiden blinks as Jesse removes the ice pack and goes to put it on a towel so it doesn't get the counter wet. "You sure?"

"Yeah; once the bruise is already that bad it's usually better to put some heat on it so the bruise goes away faster. The ice is mostly to prevent swelling and initial bruising."

Jesse frowns, before taking a towel and going over to the sink. "If we soak it in hot water and then wring it out, this should be an okay temporary heating pad 'til Stella can actually find one..."

The half-demon watches Jesse soak said towel with hot (not boiling) water and then wring it out multiple times, before the tiny seventeen-year-old is climbing up onto the chair next to him with some difficulty and plopping the slightly-damp towel on his shoulder.

"You know a lot about bruises."

Jesse looks up at him, slightly startled at the comment, before losing their balance and almost toppling off the chair altogether before they manage to catch the edge of the counter and haul themselves into it so that their side bangs into it.

"... and I can sort of see why," Aiden finishes drily.

Jesse gives an awkward half-chuckle before giving him a smile. "Um... yeah. I'm glad you guys are okay."

Aiden doesn't respond. He just looks at them for a while, long enough for a little red flush to creep into their cheeks and for them to want to break eye contact with him, but that could be taken as rude, so they just keep blinking at him.

They're therefore a bit relieved when Lukas comes into the room, a smile coming over his lips at the sight of Jesse and Aiden sitting at the counter. "Oh, hey, Jesse. Morning Aiden- what are you doing with a towel on your neck?"

"They said a heating pad is better for a bruise once the bruise has actually formed."

"Or just putting heat on it," Jesse contributes helpfully.

Lukas ruffles their hair, making them giggle and swat at him. "Well, you're a regular problem-solver, aren't you. Aiden, hang on, I might have a spell that won't have to make you sit around with a... damp towel on your shoulder all day..."

* * *

Stella's the next to breeze into the kitchen, looking just as prim and perfect and put-together as usual. Maya follows several minutes later, looking quite normal except for a slight limp that she waves off when Jesse asks her about the bruise (but she does look rather relieved when Lukas over fusses her and forces her to sit in a chair), and Gill comes in a minute later icing his eye with his split lip being pretty obvious.

Followed by Lukas tugging it off and casting a heating spell on it, to Gill's confusion until Jesse quickly explains.

Petra tromps in a minute later, red hair looking as wild as a lion's (which Stella's fingers twitch at, looking almost as if she wants to run a brush through her hair and tame it, but beyond that she simply looks at Petra for a moment, and Jesse can see the apologies dancing on her tongue, slipping into the air in a syllable, before she clamps her lips shut and goes back to making something that Lukas quietly assures Jesse that they're not eating for breakfast, since they're a bit frightened at how it looks like the mixture is moving).

Breakfast, for Jesse, is thankfully not a weird mixture of something that looks like Jell-O and cake that some of the other demons are eating, but Lukas grabbing several things that look vaguely like bread and fruit and putting them in front of Jesse.

Jesse is, understandably, a bit nervous about eating something that looks like black bread and gray fruit, but upon actually eating it they're pleasantly surprised to find that it tastes something like eating chalky lemon squares, and manage to eat the whole thing.

It's easier for them. They're not dealing with having to wince every time they open their mouth or bump their shoulder or leg, and they're not glancing awkwardly at someone else before looking back at the table whenever accidental eye contact is made.

Eventually, Lukas decides they'd better get going if they want to reach Sky City by evening, and after a lot of muddling around and grabbing clothes and Aiden tripping over the two vessel creatures in rapid succession (and then Stella having to reprimand him for saying a rather rude word in Lluna's presence, although Lluna doesn't seem to mind as she's bleating at Reuben cheerfully and Reuben's snorting back and Jesse's just torn between watching the two), the six of them are relatively presentable (Jesse suspects that the reason Petra wears a bandana is just so she has to do less with her hair) and ready to leave.

"I'll see you six at the party?" Stella asks lightly in the foyer as Maya struggles with getting her boots on, eyes resting briefly on Jesse and- to Jesse and Petra's surprise- Petra.

The redheaded half-demon is stiff for a moment, red eyes meeting Stella's. Her jaw has tightened slightly as she regards Stella.

A part of Jesse half-expects her to just haul off and punch Stella in the face. Another part of Jesse just expects Petra to scowl at Stella and snark something in her direction.

What not even one part of Jesse expects is for her to take a deep breath, crossing her arms and giving Stella a tight little nod, something that doesn't look like she's glowering at Stella like she wants to rip out the woman's guts coming over her face.

"I guess you will."

Stella looks vaguely surprised about the reaction as well, but her composure is recovered only a moment later. "Alright, sweethearts. Be careful, there's been some gang wandering around Hizelk lately trying to rob people."

Aiden arches his eyebrow at her from where he's holding. "Stella, no offense intended, but we can handle groups of fifty demons trying to kill us. I think we can handle a small gang of robbers."

"No, this is... actually a little concerning, I do really think you should be careful."

Stella's usually flamboyant manner has gone to a rather serious one, her hand shifting to rest on her collarbone as she regards the half-demons with concerned red eyes. "Their tactic actually works. No one's willing to say what it _is_ , or at least no one who's survived them cares to talk about it, but it apparently hasn't failed yet."

Petra's brow furrows. "Oh yeah. I think Ivor mentioned them sometime a week or two ago."

A moment later, it clears slightly as she returns to looking at Stella. "We'll keep it in mind."

* * *

Jesse can feel someone watching them again.

It had stopped in Champion City, but now that they're back on the road, they can feel that strange, almost hungry gaze boring into their back, green backpack with some of the supplies in there. They'd split a little bit of everything with the others in case one of them got separated from the group for whatever reason, or if one of them lost their supplies, or et cetera.

They weren't going to argue. Considering a lot of books had people packing one thing into one bag, losing said bag, and then dying of hunger or thirst or whatnot, splitting up the supplies just seemed smarter.

The horse (which they summoned just outside of Champion City by pressing their fingers to the tattoo on Lukas's careful instruction, and who was very happy to see them) is trotting along fairly quickly, the other demons moving quite quickly but not as quickly as in their 'shadow forms'.

(Jesse is somewhat relieved about that. They're not sure their stomach can handle another full-out run like the previous one, and they don't want to throw up on the poor horse.)

When Jesse asks why that is the next time the demons slow down to take a short break from moving quickly and then pick the pace back up, Lukas gives a sheepish laugh and says that they don't usually rush that way, since it tires out their shadow form and then they can't actually use it for a few days afterwards.

Petra chimes in that it was their fault for not realizing they could still use their shadow forms without going at the speed of light, which causes Aiden to whack her over the back of the head and teasingly berate her about it being her own fault and not helping them resolve the fight faster, which would've given them much more time to get to Champion City without rushing.

The horse that Jesse's riding on (who Jesse has, for reasons unbeknownst to even themselves, privately decided to call Bob) nickers softly as Jesse holds onto its neck, gently squashing Reuben into the horse's neck as well to keep the pig from falling off. "D'you think we'll get to Sky City on time today?"

"Well, we're making good time, considering we're not in shadow form and a few of us are injured," Gill muses from where he's currently walking at a brisk trot, "I think we'll get there in time before night falls."

"And thanks to our stupid lord finally actually giving us our ID cards," Aiden mutters under his breath, although still loudly enough to be heard, "we can actually get _into_ the city."

Petra rolls her eyes at Aiden's complaining."Oh, alright, you cynical piece of crap, quit complaining about Romeo."

Aiden arches his eyebrow at her with the most unimpressed look on his face that has ever crossed it.

"Seriously. He's a bit scatterbrained, and I know he's not that awesome compared to some of the other lords, but he's really not that-"

"Hello?"

Jesse falls off of Bob, who whinnies in alarm along with Reuben's startled squeal until Lukas dives forward and keeps them from having a very one-sidedly enthusiastic greeting with the floor. "You alright?"

"Uh-huh, I- I just thought I heard Romeo's voice," Jesse replies, noting apologetically that he sounds a bit out-of-breath from hitting the floor the way he did. "From somewhere in my pocket."

Maya blinks at Jesse startledly. "Oh, I heard him too..."

"Me too." Gill taps his ear as if he's trying to knock water out of it, frowning deeply.

He's not the only one- Aiden has a rather stricken expression on his face as he glances around warily, and Petra is rubbing her own ear. "Is it possible to have a group hallucination?"

"Unless it was by some weird circumstance of magic, no," Lukas muses quietly.

... magic...

A moment later, Jesse wiggles out of Lukas's grip and starts rifling through their inventory, shoving aside clothing until they grab something hard and smooth and then haul it out of their inventory, almost knocking the spellbook onto the floor.

"Romeo! Hi I'm really sorry we didn't contact you yesterday we totally forgot!" Jesse blurts out in a single breath, which makes Aiden pause and glance at them in surprise.

Perhaps he's surprised at how much air they are able to retain in their lungs.

Romeo's face blinks back at them from the magic mirror that they shoved into their inventory the day before, before a mock-annoyed look comes over his face.

It's easy to tell that he's just putting up an act, as his lips keep curling up in a smirk.

"I _do_ believe I said to contact me as soon as you received the mirror _yesterday_ , did I not?" The lord leans back and teasingly tsks his tongue, the mirror apparently not having to rely on him holding it as his arms cross over his chest. "You October Children, such disappointments."

Petra rolls her eyes in a good-natured way. "Hello to you too, Romeo."

He blinks, before giving her a half-smile. "Ah, hello, Petra. Didn't realize you wandered over to Hizelk-Narvid territory. I thought you liked hanging around in Yurin and Jupin more?"

"Jupin is chaos and Yurin is too fucking cold," she replies bluntly, which makes Maya snort.

Perhaps another reason Jesse can't see Romeo as a lord is that he lets his contracted humans ( _half-demons? They are technically not human, after all_ ) speak to him as if he was their equal. Lords are usually much more pompous and puffed up.

Like frogs.

"Besides, kinda glad I was in the area. These guys were all getting jumped by a gang of robbers when I dropped in," Petra is saying when Jesse has recovered from the mental image of Romeo being a frog.

Romeo gives a thoughtful hum, fingering his collar as his red-and-gold eyes glaze out of focus. "Ah, so _that's_ what the corpses half a mile outside of the Underneath are, I was wondering about those..."

Lukas graciously deigns to change the subject, seeing as Jesse turns rather pale and a wee bit green at those words. "Uh, our stay in Champion City was... relatively uneventful."

"Yes, I gather from the split lip and the fact that Gill looks like half a panda," Romeo replies, drily.

"It's a bar fight in the demon world and a demon was getting handsy with Maya," Aiden grumbles in explanation, which isn't a very good one.

"Ah, I take that back. That sounds about regular with you five."

Lukas cuts in before Aiden can deliver an undoubtedly scathing response. "But we're making quite good time. We should make it to Sky City before evening without trouble."

Romeo hums before Jesse can remind them of the robbers that Stella warned them about. "Ah, that's good. Isa'll be delighted to see you five." He pauses. "And Harper and Mevia, I suppose."

"Harper's weird," Gill murmurs.

Aiden shoots him a look, but he doesn't argue.

"Mevia's more violent than her, so I'll take Harper any day," Maya hums, leaning against the horse, before Bob snarls at her and she hastily pulls away.

"She barely ever talks to anyone unless she's judging them or helping someone build something," Gill shoots back, "and then when she does she either speaks in the most convoluted technobabble ever or doesn't even speak in full _sentences_. I've only ever seen her act normal with other lords, and then she acts like she's someone's mom."

"And Mevia nearly lopped off my head with an axe last time when I tapped her on the shoulder," Maya replies, "I'll take the technobabble and momness any day."

Gill rolls his eyes at her. "Oh, of course _you_ would, Miss Pretty Hair."

"Fuck you, you bearded git."

Romeo gives the now-bickering half-demons a tired look, before sighing and massaging his temples. "Yes, you... _would_ expect them all to be a bit more similar, I suppose."

Jesse blinks as Lukas, Aiden, and Petra concede the point, before looking around up at them. "Why?"

Romeo ponders how exactly to explain whatever the explanation is, before apparently deciding something along the lines of _fuck it_ and just bluntly saying what he's thinking.

Which happens to be, "Isa, Mevia, and Harper are actually technically all the same person."

Jesse blinks once.

Blinks twice.

And then repeats a phrase that they're pretty sure they're going to be repeating many, many times in Cosmos.

"I'm sorry, _what?_ "

* * *

 **A/N: Fun times, fun times xD**

 **Petra's... less likely to kill Stella, and Jesse finally remembers to contact Romeo again xD**

 **I need to describe more of Hizelk's scenery...**

 **And more worldbuilding next chapter!**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **TheAmberShadow: Vessel creatures are VERY difficult to actually discern. For the most part, they just look like normal animals. And in Cosmos, human animals are worth less than coppers, and Cosmos animals are... very, very dangerous. Some can be tamed (like the horses), but it takes a HUGE amount of work and patience because... let me put it this way, dealing with them is more likely to end up in injury. Especially if the animal has bonded with someone and you try to take them away from that person. / You're not allowed to teleport into buildings. Staying outside basically ensures that no one dangerous enters the shop, front or back. Beyond that, there's also the fact that the cashier and her friend are low-level demons that don't have much of an interest in fighting, as this is more on the Hizelkian end of town. / Explained :3 / Thank :3 / Indeed xD**

 **Toni42: Yes. It _was_ an accident, and Stella's been beating herself up about it, but... it's not like she can really help what she is, although she is doing her damndest to not let it happen again, since she's older and the first time it happened she was very young and didn't really know what she was doing.**

 **LegendEmpress: I wouldn't say they're popular, but I do like them. x3 / Details are great xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	20. Magic Marauders

Romeo hums, lacing his fingers together thoughtfully as he tries to summon the right words to explain the weird statement he just made.

After a moment, he nods and looks at Jesse. "Alright, I'll try to explain this simply. So you know about your heart, and how as long as it exists in Cosmos, you won't die. Yes?"

Jesse nods. "Yes."

It was one of the first things explained to them, so... yes, they get it.

"And how soul magic was made illegal?"

"Yes."

"Okay." Romeo crooks one finger, making an image swim over his face in the mirror.

For a moment, Jesse looks over their shoulder to make sure there isn't a shadowy figure standing behind them, but thankfully it just seems to be in the mirror.

"A century or two ago, the first woman lord of Cosmos began to rule Hizelk. Her name was Himira."

The image changes to show the shadowy woman talking to people, although a little glowing heart that's in her center seems to be cracking. "Ivor warned her that being chosen as the first woman lord would be a huge burden, as people would try to give her more trouble and heckle her back out of her role. She didn't listen."

"And she began to pay the price."

Jesse is holding the mirror tightly as the image changes to show the heart splitting into three pieces. "Himira knew that if she kept up trying to help the people of Hizelk the way she was, she was going to run herself ragged. And she thought 'what if'," and now three more figures are forming, one around the pieces of the heart, "'what if I were three people running the district instead?'"

"It took a _lot_ of pleading and teaching. Ivor gave in eventually; he _did_ think Himira was the best fit for the job, despite how much doubt was going around about the world's judgement, but they managed to use a spell to split Himira's soul and heart into three separate beings."

Jesse watches as the image splits into a triangle of sorts, each person being illuminated faintly by a role, almost like the sun glowing through a sunlit stained glass window."One would be in charge of leading the army and the guards, one was in charge of diplomacy, and primarily for dealing with the people and holding court, and the final piece would be to help the people so that everyone would be happy."

"But what neither of them expected, is for the fragments of Himira's soul and heart to begin developing their own souls."

Mevia, Harper, and Isa appear. "They still share the same heart, and killing one will result in the other two dying, but for all intents and purposes Himira has disappeared, and she is now three different women. Soul magic was outlawed after that; if your soul could be completely consumed by a new soul like that after splitting it, can you imagine the consequences?"

So soul magic being outlawed is a... _somewhat_ recent occurrence.

Romeo is absentmindedly speaking now, although his voice is still audible. "While they technically share bits and pieces of the same soul, undoing the spell at this point is near nigh impossible and would, in fact, be using soul magic to reverse it, which isn't possible because of how... _different_ the souls are. They may share similarities, but they are no longer the same soul."

The images dissipate, revealing Romeo's face.

Jesse holds still, still clinging to the mirror as they consider this entire thing rather thoughtfully. "... So Harper, Isa, and Mevia are all technically... Himira?"

They blink a moment later. "... did Himira just take the first three letters of her name and assign random names based on that?" they ask, releasing the mirror and making a few gestures.

Lukas hums, making them twist around to look back at him. "Actually, I think the story goes that Ivor kept referring to her as Himira and they'd all respond 'yes' simultaneously, so after a while he got sort of exasperated and just pointed and went "H, I, M. Pick names based on that."

"The story going that way is true, I asked Ivor and he halfheartedly grumbled something about it being the most annoying thing he'd ever had to deal with in his many years of life," Petra replies drily.

Jesse gets a little fit of the giggles at that.

Romeo rolls his eyes. "He's the wisest out of all of us, and yet somehow I repeatedly forget how practical the man can be. Anyhow, is there any reason you called me?"

He pauses. "Or was it an accident? Since Jesse's new to magic and I figured Gill and Aiden were going along and they're no great shakes at magic-"

Aiden gives him a withering glare that, unsurprisingly, leaves Romeo not too withered.

"- I just made it so that you had to call my name and wait before the call went through." He pauses, before frowning. "I feel like that sounds more like a human invention."

Jesse would tell him that it's basically the telephone, or alternatively Siri, but someone else beats them to speaking.

"Oh, then it was an accident. I mentioned you in conversation," Petra says somewhat apologetically.

He nods, apparently not seeming all that put-out by it. "I figured. In the future, if you wish to call me, just say my name and then wait for a minute. Even a pause of a second and a half will do. I can end the call, so don't worry, I won't bother you incessantly."

"Got it," Lukas says respectfully (although Jesse swears they can hear Aiden mutter 'good' under his breath). "Thanks."

"Of course." The lord pauses again, brow furrowing, before red and gold eyes flicker to them. "Did Stella mention something about a group of burglars in Hizelk?"

Aiden gives a loud groan, his apparent goodwill leaving. "Ugh, this again. Look, if Stella didn't get it, _you_ should. You're our lord. We can handle a bunch of run-of-the-mill bandits. The corpses in Narvid are good evidence," he retorts.

Romeo ignores his tone. "You can handle run-of-the-mill bandits. Yes. But can you handle ones that deal with magic?"

"Magic?" Maya's leaning forward now, brow furrowing. "Hizelkian people don't have a good handle on magic. Not like in Enchantra. Not enough for their scheme to work _every_ time, like what Stella said."

The demon lord gives a shrug. "Say what you will, but that's what the reports are indicating. The robberies tend to occur quite close to Sky City, so you should still make it on time and not have to spend the night in a tree-"

"Again," Gill chimes in.

Romeo raises his eyes to the sky. "Dear lord, you children. Fine, again, but do be wary when dealing with them. Only two of you are skilled in magic, and the other four... well..." He pauses, perhaps trying to find a better way than simply saying 'you're all terrible', especially considering Jesse's blinking at the mirror.

"I think we can handle it, if we've got Lukas and Maya," Aiden replies bluntly, ignoring Romeo's hesitation.

The lord regards the six of them for a moment- Maya, standing crookedly even though he can't see the bruise on her leg, Gill, who (in all fairness) does resemble half a panda, Aiden, whose bruise creeps onto his neck despite the heating spell Lukas keeps renewing, Jesse, clutching the magic mirror with Reuben leaning over to look at them, Petra with one hand on her hip, Lukas with his blindfold over his eyes and his arms crossed in a way that betrays a vague, cloudy sort of concern.

His final words to them stay with Jesse long after the mirror reverts to Jesse's big green eyes staring down at a reflective surface.

"If you say so."

* * *

Hizelk is different from Narvid.

Jesse hasn't been paying too much attention to the scenery while travelling, but now that they've slowed down again Jesse can spot noticeable differences.

Instead of tall trees with black trunks, the trunks faded from black to gray to pure white, the leaves red or black or (occasionally) also white, leaving the red grass looking too stark against ghostly beautiful wending shapes against the red sky or red and black foliage, and Jesse can also spot white flowering vines swaying in the breeze.

Aiden seems to like the perfume that permeates the air, faint enough that if Jesse really inhales, I mean _really_ breathes in deep and closes their eyes, they can smell a whiff of jasmine and chocolate and rose perfume dancing on the air before the wind steals it away for themselves.

"Is that from the flowers?"

He looks around at them, looking curiously at where his usually stony face has softened. It hardens again, but only slightly. "The ones on the vines? Yeah, they're called _Rayiha_. Pretty sure it's an old language that literally means scent."

Reuben is sniffing the air happily too, which makes Jesse hum and run a hand over the little pig. "Are there any bad effects from Rayiha flowers, then?"

"From just smelling them? No. _Eating_ them, yes. Don't eat the flowers. Some flowers are edible, but not these. You'd much rather have your insides dipped in lava than eat these," he warns them. "Some demons get ideas because they smell like they're edible."

Jesse sniffs. "Yeah, 's a bit like tea."

Aiden pauses. "Well, you're not wrong. Don't eat anything with Rayiha flowers in it. To put it simply, you'll be pretty badly poisoned to the point of near-death, and then you choke to death because Rayiha decides 'oh, we've fucked up your systems, now let's put you out of your misery.' It _can_ be stopped or slowed down, but magic and potions tend to speed it up."

"Look at you, being all magicky over here," Lukas teases him.

Aiden rolls his eyes at the blonde half-demon in reply. "I've only seen herbal treatments do any good, and even then it's a very limited amount of 'good' that it's doing."

A moment later, he abruptly realizes who he's explaining this to, and his stony expression returns. "Either way, just don't eat or get Rayiha flowers in your bloodstream. It's not pleasant," he mutters gruffly.

Jesse hums, admiring the eerily white blossoms with a black center regardless. "I'll be sure to remember that," they reply seriously.

Abruptly, Bob comes to a screeching halt, snorting loudly. Reuben gives a little oink as Jesse accidentally squashes him a little.

He's not the only one to stop. Petra stops as well, scanning the flowered vines and the ghostly trees, brow furrowing until she looks downright suspicious.

"Pet-?" Jesse begins, but Lukas puts his finger to his lips, so the human contents themselves with carefully sliding off of Bob.

The horse butts his nose against their face, the heat of the flames from his mane momentarily brushing their face, before disappearing in a soft crack and wisp of light that Jesse suspects might be in order to avoid being noticed. Reuben hovers in midair for a moment before Jesse hops up and catches him to avoid having the little pig plop onto the floor.

Petra is still suspiciously scanning the path ahead. Maya's shoulder is pressing against Gill's, but unlike how he'd usually push her away and complain that she's invading his personal space, and then she'd snap back it was his own fault ( _Jesse was vaguely certain they were flirting somewhat, but then again what would they know about relationships?_ ), neither of them say a thing about it.

Then:

"Hey. Stop lurking and come out here."

Petra's blunt words echo in the air for only a moment.

And then, without any warning, Jesse blinks and a ring of people in dark clothing have surrounded them. Many of them, to Jesse's relief, are holding gnarled wooden staffs or short sticks that very much resemble wands.

So hopefully there won't be as much blood and gore and death as last time.

Aiden crosses his arms, regarding the ring of people evenly. "Oh, well, it looks like we're popular today. Let me guess, we've got a toll to pay?"

A woman that Jesse can only assume is the leader ( _she's got shiny embroiderings on her dark clothing; each moving forward sends colored light dancing across the ground_ ) steps forward, spreading her arms in an almost expansive gesture. "Actually, we have a deal to make with you."

"Does this deal involve giving up all our stuff?" Petra asks, as flat as a pancake.

"Funny enough, it _does_ , but we're reasonable people. Not as... _kind_ as Jupin's people, perhaps, but, well," the leader of the robbers gives a dry grin, red eyes gleaming in the light, "we have magic, it's only fair that we do _something_ with it."

"Plus we're bored," another demon pipes up.

Jesse is seized with the odd desire to laugh at that.

"So how about this? If even _one_ member of your party is able to resist a quick blast of our magic, we'll leave you be. Else... we'll have to have you hand over everything that's of interest to us. Money, supplies, anything valuable..."

The demon shrugs. "You know, we've got to make a living somehow."

"Owning a shop in town could probably make more regular revenue," Maya mumbles sardonically.

Aiden rolls his eyes. "You're not handling the right people," he calls to the leader. "We'll just handle your blast of magic in a jiffy and then be on our way to Sky City."

"Don't brag, Aiden," Lukas murmurs back, his head turning slightly to look at his friend. "You're not the one with a higher magic resistance."

"Be that as it may," the leader calls to them airily, either ignoring the whispering or just not caring, "we still do need you to have the test. Pick whoever you'd like and put them in the center of the circle, and then come over to us- we'd _so_ hate for you to get caught in the crossfire."

Somehow, they're fairly certain that none of the robbers would really care.

Jesse more senses Lukas's movement forward than sees it, and their eyes flicker over to confirm it. "Lukas..."

Maya waves Jesse off. "Lukas has a really high magic resistance, considering he's a half-demon. He can usually handle a general wave of magic in his direction without having to worry about any repercussions afterwards."

"... oh."

For some reason, Jesse still has a bad feeling, but they obediently let Lukas shuffle into the center as the others retreat to the sidelines, Petra retaining firm hold on them in case any of the other demons care to bother them.

From what it looks like, the red-and-black clothing is working wonders, as most of the other demons barely even look twice at them.

The blonde half-demon looks much lonelier surrounded by all the dark figures. A heavy weight settles on their shoulders as the bad feeling grows worse.

And then a moment later, they realize that the heavy weight isn't actually just emotion or worry, it's an _actual_ weight, and they open their mouth to ask what is going on.

Not a full second later, Lukas is blasted backwards.

Jesse gives an involuntary cry as the blonde half-demon tumbles backwards, does a sort of flip, and lands on one knee, coughing weakly for breath as though he's been completely winded.

His hands splay against the ground, fingerless gloves steadily getting stained a darker color as dark red leaks out of the corner of his mouth.

"Oh, what a shame." The leader of this group gives him a mocking pout, lowering the staff slightly as he regards the blonde half-demon. "It looks like you're not as tough with magic as you thought you were, huh."

Maya's face has gone white at where Lukas is now coughing, looking winded as blood dribbles out from between his lips.

She's not the only one; Aiden looks actually _worried_ for once and Gill's hand has tightened on his gun.

Jesse looks over at Petra; the redhead's hand has tightened on her shoulder. The weight is slightly heavier now, but Jesse is relieved to find it's not any more crushing than before.

"What the... Lukas has the highest magic resistance in the whole group," Petra mumbles to herself, looking as though she's not even noticing Jesse and Reuben's worried expressions from how she's gazing at the half-demon struggle back to his feet, breathing ragged.

The next thing Petra says makes a cold hand wrap around Jesse's heart and squeeze it.

"If Lukas was taken down in a single shot by this magic, the rest of us don't stand a chance."

* * *

 **A/N: Oh dear.**

 **Replies to reviews!**

 **LegendEmpress: Heh, fair.**

 **TheAmberShadow: Yep! / They're just nameless. Hizelk is a district that focuses more on art, beauty, and building. Magnus and Porkchop wouldn't really care to stay there; or use magic. / Explained :3 / Yes. / You haven't; Merry belated Christmas to you as well!**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	21. Resistance

"Ah-ah-ah, don't tell me you're not going to let the little one try, as well."

Jesse freezes at the leader's words, glancing at the others with wide eyes.

Lukas is now not the only one who has developed some sort of injury (although Jesse can't actually see it, he periodically has to smear blood off of his mouth with his sleeve). Aiden has a new cut on the bruise (which looks horribly sore), Maya's definitely got a pronounced limp now, Gill doesn't look very different but the way he's gingerly holding his arm speaks volumes, and Petra looks very definitely dizzy.

(Lukas quietly reassures Jesse, through soft coughs, that Petra will be fine once she sits for a bit.)

After Lukas went, the others went down even quicker and even worse than he did, which startles Jesse.

They haven't known the others for very long, but they've gotten used to their fast movements, bold fighting, rough way of dealing with things, bickering, being perhaps a little prideful- sometimes for good reason.

They're not very used to the others losing.

But then the October Children try to get the deal with over quickly.

They did technically agree to it, after all, and they're certain that they'll be able to recover their supplies at Sky City, and 'currency is just currency,' Lukas reassures Jesse, they earn more than that and they can ask Romeo for more if they really have to.

And now the leader wants Jesse to go and do the same things the others did.

"After all, we said _any_ member of your little group just has to handle the magic, and you all can go free. Unless I'm mistaken, they haven't gone yet," the leader hums breezily.

Lukas's lips turn down in a frown. "That's not fair. They're younger."

Jesse would really argue about the 'younger' point, but in all honesty, it's better to just pretend they're just younger than have to elaborate on how they're quite short, so they don't really say anything and just blink up at Lukas.

"And they're a lot smaller. Not to mention, they haven't handled magic before. They're the member that's most likely to get badly injured if you try a general magic blast on them."

The leader just gives him an enigmatic smile. "Mmnn, well, that's your own fault for agreeing to the deal, then, isn't it?"

Lukas glares at her; she matches it with a pleasant smile. "Come on, have them give it a go and we'll go easy on them."

"You're lying about that, aren't you," Aiden mutters, hissing as he shifts and the bruise-cut-combo gives a rather vocal complaint.

"Of course I am. Now, chop-chop, or you all die and we take your valuables anyway." The leader shrugs. "We find that most people pick the first option."

"I wonder why," Gill mutters sarcastically.

Petra opens her mouth to protest (still looking quite loopy), but a moment later Reuben squeals loudly, and Maya finds herself having a green backpack shoved at her as Jesse looks up at her, giving her the most natural smile they can.

Which is to say, at the moment not very. They're terrified. But it's a good imitation.

"Can you hold that? If they do end up knocking me out or something I'm not sure I wanna get what's inside damaged."

"Jesse, you can't be seriously-"

Jesse gives Lukas another crooked, scared smile. It's less of a smile and more of a quirk of the lips. "It's either I go and get whopped in the face with magic, or we all die. I prefer the first option."

"But... but..." Lukas's head shifts back and forth, before he leans forward and lowers his voice to a hushed whisper. "Most humans don't _have_ any magic resistance. Even something as small as a flick of their finger could pretty much blast your guts out."

"You do paint a pretty picture, Lukas," Petra murmurs, still somewhat dazed.

Jesse shrugs at Lukas with a helpless little smile. "Well, then, better that my guts get blasted out than all of us dying. I'm pretty sure Romeo wouldn't be very pleased about that."

And then they tread across the path before the others can say anything else, shoes padding softly across brick until they're in the center of the circle of raiders, trying not to show the fact that their hands are shaking and failing miserably.

* * *

Jesse looks so tiny in the center of the circle.

Of course, the human's tiny at the best of times, and it's not like Lukas doesn't know that, but it just feels as though he took a small child, blindfolded them, and then plopped them right in front of a firing squad.

Well, not quite blindfolded, if the way they're paler than death at the sight of dozens of dark figures standing in a ring around them is any indication.

"Romeo's going to kill us," Gill mumbles, although he does look a little worried at the sight of the tiny human in the center of the circle. "He's going to find out that Jesse's had their brains blown out by magic, and then we're all going to die."

"Let's worry about these magic people killing us before we worry about our boss, how about that?" Aiden hisses back.

Maya bites her lip before glancing at Lukas. "Is it _possible_ that Jesse could have a higher magic resistance than the average human? They were able to sense the magic in the tree."

"It's _possible_ , but magic sensitivity doesn't necessarily correlate to magic resistance." Lukas presumably has his eyes fixed on Jesse, the blindfold hiding where he's actually looking.

For all they know Lukas is just staring at the floor but not moving his head.

"I certainly hope it does, but..."

"In that case, we're really just relying on a hope and a prayer that Jesse isn't reduced to a smear on the floor," Gill summarizes.

"Basically, yeah."

Aiden crosses his arms and glances down at Reuben, who's squealing periodically and running around in panicked little circles. "Well, the pig sure doesn't seem confident that it'll work."

" _The pig_ is literally Jesse's heart; if they're scared then Reuben is going to react," Lukas points out. "It's not like Reuben actually knows what's going on _with_ Jesse physically."

Reuben gives Lukas an unimpressed oink.

"You know what I mean."

* * *

Jesse can feel the weight of magic on them, pressing down into their shoulders slightly as they watch the ring of dark figures regard them.

(They're not sure, but they feel a vague feeling of guilt emanating from some of them, and some of them are shifting almost awkwardly.)

The leader has a smug grin on her face as she regards Jesse. She's probably figuring out just how much is going to be needed to blast their brains out.

Yes... just what Jesse wants.

Several staffs swing up abruptly, glowing with magic heat and making the weight in the air grow even heavier, tugging downwards so much that Jesse momentarily wonders if gravity has increased.

They squeeze their eyes shut instinctively.

Something brushes their shoulders gently, almost teasingly tracing something there, before it's gone in a whisper of wind too brisk and pleasant and sweet for Jesse to properly catch, replacing the whisper of wind with the pleasant scent of the Rayiha flowers.

A beat of silence.

Another.

They don't feel dead.

Or any pain.

So that's good, they suppose.

Jesse very, very slowly cracks their eyes open...

... to find all the staffs still pointed at them, the expressions of those wielding the staffs almost being thunderstruck. The leader of the robbers, in particular, is gaping stupidly at them in shock.

They blink a few times, taking inventory of their own body very slowly.

Well, their guts are still in their body.

So are their brains.

They slowly flex their fingers, pleased to find that besides the fact that the air is literally so heavy with magic that it's weighing them down, they can still move as normally and freely as they want. So the magic hasn't done anything weird to them on that front.

They lift their eyes back to the ring of raiders around them, scanning the circle until they find the October Children and Petra, just to make sure they're not having a death hallucination.

Nope. There they are. Staring at Jesse with just as much shock as the robbers.

"Did you guys make a mistake?" they call out to the circle of stunned-stupid robbers.

* * *

"Well, I'll be," says Lukas to nobody at all.

* * *

Jesse watches as the robbers flee into the tree line, feeling vaguely amused and (at the same time) incredibly bewildered. "They sure lit out of here fast once I beat their system..."

Petra gives her head a little shake. Perhaps it's because the magic is clearing up, or because enough time has passed that whatever the robbers did to her is clearing up, but she sounds more lucid when she speaks next. "That's basically what robbers do. Do stuff until it fails, and then hightail it out of there."

Reuben leaps into Jesse's arms, which makes them grin and squeeze back as he snuffles happily. "Hey, Reuben. I'm okay."

The pig oinks and presses his nose to their cheek happily. They beam even brighter and rub his head gently.

Lukas gives his head a shake, a smile playing on his lips. "You are just a bundle of surprises, aren't you."

The human's cheeks proceed to tint a very pretty shade of pink. "I didn't really do anythin'... it was probably a fluke or something, since I've got Reuben." They lift him. "If he's a familiar or a vessel creature, then wouldn't he boost magic resistance or something?"

The blonde half-demon's smile curves into a thoughtful frown. "Hm... you know, I'm not really an expert on that. We can probably ask Romeo or someone who's good at magic the next time we see them."

"Not today. Talking to Romeo once in one day is good enough for me, thank you very much," Aiden grumbles.

Gill rolls his eyes, giving Aiden an unimpressed look. "Okay, we'll tell Isa to pass that on when we see her-"

"No, no I'm good on that too, thank you."

Jesse giggles a bit while Lukas chuckles, looping an arm around Jesse and giving the tiny human a squeeze. "Eh. Well, it was nice of the robbers to ambush us about twenty minutes from Sky City. We'll make it with plenty of daylight to spare."

"Sky City ought to _at least_ be slightly calmer," Maya hums, her goodwill apparently also drained by the robbers.

"I'd be impressed if it _wasn't_. You know Mevia and Reginald really crack down on criminals."

"You know it's less Mevia and more Isa. Mevia's in charge of the army; Isa handles the people _and_ she's a huge stickler for the laws." Maya sends Gill a wicked grin. "You'd better not break any."

Gill sticks his tongue out at her. "Bitch."

"Bastard." She gives him a friendly sort of punch on the shoulder and starts walking. "C'mon, we'd better get going before Aiden complains about us all being too slow."

"I don't complain that we're too slow..."

Petra gives Aiden a wicked grin. "Oh? Then what do you call telling us to 'pick up the pace before we all turn to bones'?"

"Encouragement."

"Weird form of encouragement."

Lukas shakes his head as Petra bolts ahead, Aiden chasing after her and looking like he's going to whack her over the head. "I'm starting to see why people call us the October _Children._ "

* * *

"Halt! You may not-" A man with skin the color of tea blinks at the six of them from where he is in front of the gates, before his mustache curls up as he grins at them, red irises gleaming. He's dressed head-to-toe in a very impressive uniform that is interestingly different from the Cosmos one- Jesse thinks it's more of a brown color and has more embellishments. "Well, if it isn't the October Children!"

Maya gives him a bright grin and a wave. "Downgraded to gate duty, I see."

The other guard straightens. "It's not a downgrade, miss! It's been an honor working with him, miss!"

Reginald gives him a wry smile. "Dear lord, lighten up, Dawson, it's a pleasure to have worked with you as well, but I told you, you don't have to stand on ceremony with me."

He turns back to them, giving them a warmer smile. "It's good to see you, October Children."

"What am I, chopped liver?" Petra asks drily with a grin.

He rolls his eyes and beckons his hand. "C'mon, hand me your ID cards and we'll get the process over with, you five." He pauses at the sight of Jesse hugging Reuben, about half a foot behind Petra. "Oh, who's this?"

Aiden sighs, his own smile dimming. "Uh... Romeo's having us watch them while we help out with... _that_."

The other guard at the gate blinks, but Reginald gives a solemn nod. "Ah, I see." He glances back at them, giving them a friendly sort of smile. "Well, my name's Reginald. I'm Captain of the Guard in Sky City."

Jesse nods and takes his hand, momentarily feeling their hand squeeze as he grips their hand firmly and gives it a solid shake. "'M Jesse."

Reuben oinks cheerfully as they lift him up a little. "This is Reuben. He's my pig."

Reginald gives them another smile, mustache curling a little bit. "Well, it's good to meet you two. Now, are you all alright? You look a little worse for the wear." His expression sobers. "Was it those robbers again? I imagine you need more supplies after that, then."

"Actually, no." Gill gives Jesse a clap on the back with his good arm and very nearly knocks them flat on their face. As it is the slap still stings through Jesse's shirt and makes some bruises there complain. "This little dude managed to get us all out with our supplies... if not without injury."

"I'm sorry, I should've gone first..."

"Jess, you nearly gave me a heart attack going _last_. I would've gone into cardiac arrest if you just went up first," Lukas murmurs back good-heartedly.

Reginald's eyebrow shoots up. "Really?"

Maya gives a grin. "Yeah. Actually, they've got to have a sky-high resistance; even Lukas couldn't stand up against it and you know Lukas has the best magic resistance."

The Captain appraises Jesse as another demon comes to replace him, the man slipping out of place to allow the other guard to fit into where he'd been standing previously.

Jesse tries not to fidget, trip, or do anything stupid otherwise.

"... interesting."

Jesse likes watching Reginald smile. His mustache just bristles a little at the ends.

"Well, you probably want to see the lords. They're actually free right about now, so we can probably get you in there in about ten minutes."

Aiden lets out a whistle, eyebrow going up almost appreciatively. "Damn, that fast? We arrived at a good time."

"Yep." Reginald smiles and allows the six to go through the gates, Jesse still clinging to Reuben tightly. "Well, lemme guess, kid, you haven't been to Sky City before?"

Jesse (correctly) assumes that he's talking to them, so they bob their head. "Yes, sir."

"You can just call me Reginald." Reginald gives them another grin, white teeth flashing at them. "Well, you'll find Sky City to be a real treat, then. Just, uh... don't drink any water yet." He gives them a look, expression fading to a more serious one. "You five haven't been here for a while either... you might not want to drink it yet either."

Jesse blinks. "Why? Is it poisoned or something?"

"Most drinks _are_ poisoned. Demons and half-demons can handle poison, remember?" Lukas reminds them gently.

"Oh, right..."

So why can't even the half-demons drink the water?

* * *

 **A/N: Worldbuilding is fun**

 **And yes, of all creatures, humans have the _least_ magic resistance, or at least the ones in Cosmos do, since you either have to be incredibly close-minded to have a high magic resistance (because, well, if you don't believe in magic it won't do squat), or... well, you've just got to genetically have it. And most humans don't genetically have high magic resistance.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **LegendEmpress: I'm pretty sure you'd die as well; humans have very low magic resistances for the most part. Jesse doesn't. (And no, Jesse's not half-demon. They just happen to have a high magic resistance.) / They're not even hurt that bad; this early in the story is too early to fake killing off characters xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: Yep, that's pretty much it. xD / Here are a dozen virtual cookies xD / Humans have a ridiculously _low_ magic resistance, at least in Cosmos.**

 **That's all! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	22. Sky City

Sky City is very homey, very pretty, and absolutely terrifying, all at the same time.

The homey and pretty part comes from how most of the ground is just wood or paved stone or neat gray or light brown, which makes everything look a bit barren except for the potted plants dotting the place periodically, but the houses are made of wood or white material that Jesse can't quite place, a rather large and somewhat-egg shaped palace towering at the very top of the city, dominating the houses in size easily. There are wooden bridges and platforms connecting all of the houses, and all the wood somehow manages to make the more elegant materials look more homey.

Which brings it to why Sky City is terrifying; the entire city is on floating wooden platforms and islands above what looks like a bottomless chasm. Swirls of colorful smoke swim through the air through the areas connected by bridges or platforms, sending a rather large rainbow smoke ring wafting right into Jesse's face periodically.

It smells like blueberries, although occasionally it does also just smell like their dad ( _not their dad, not quite, legal guardian?_ ) legal guardian just coughed in their face.

"Sky City is the only city that hovers quite this way," Reginald boasts proudly to them as Jesse peers over one bridge railing into the darkness below the city. They're fairly certainly they can see something seething just out of sight, but they don't really want to know what it is. "Most of the other cities do have something unique about it, but this is the only capital city that floats this smoothly or this well."

Jesse peeps into the chasm; the darkness stares back at them. "I see..."

Aiden is drumming his fingers almost impatiently on his arm, although he still does seem more mild than he usually is. "Hey, Reg," he calls to the guard, "can we see Isa and Mevia and Harper now? It's a bit urgent."

Reginald's mustache bristles in a smile. "You're in luck. You caught them on the one day they don't have a meeting this week. They should all be in the palace."

"So we'll be searching for three hours, then," Maya replies rather drily.

Reginald chuckles and continues towards the palace, Jesse clinging to Petra's sleeve with one hand and hugging Reuben with the other to avoid the possibility of falling into the bottomless chasm. The bridge they are on is solid, but Jesse can't express the level of horror they felt a few minutes before when they began walking across a bridge and it started swaying and swinging beneath their feet.

They'd ended up with Lukas picking them up and carrying them across, since they'd just frozen in place out of fear that they were going to trip, fall, and then die. In that exact order.

"It shouldn't take too long to find them. They're just in their usual places."

* * *

The palace is less homey than the city, but it's still gorgeous. If anything, it's even prettier than the city.

Most of the walls are made with quartz, like Romeo's spire, but unlike the palace, it's lined with wood and not gold. The floor is a warm acacia, and most of the doors are just plain doors that swing open. There's still many plants and flowers inside, and one room that Jesse tries has a tree that they nearly walk into because of lack of attention.

Jesse spots Aiden looking at the flowers at one point. He notices them watching and turns away, cheeks pinking slightly.

They resolve to find him some flowers that don't try to eat people or poison them sometime.

Reginald swings the door open and checks inside of them periodically, but it isn't until about the thirteenth door that they find anyone inside.

(Jesse wonders why the palace is so big if only a few people live inside. It seems like a waste. And doesn't that just mean more rooms to clean?)

A woman with dark skin and white hair looks up from where she's leaning over some kind of metal contraption. She blinks red-and-gray irises from where her black gloves and her hair and her plain brown clothing are covered with glittering red (and after a moment of panic, Jesse realizes it is only red dust) as she shifts back orange-lensed goggles to look at them. There is a moment of a lack of comprehension as she stares at them.

And then she smiles.

"October Children."

She stands and goes over, dusting her hands uselessly; the dust just floats and sticks to another part of her clothing. She clasps Lukas's hand and gives it a squeeze, covering it with red dust, before releasing it and turning to Petra. "Petra."

Petra gives a polite bow. "Hello, Harper. It's good to see you."

Harper nods, still smiling, before she comes to the very-tiny Jesse. She just continues smiling, but cocks her head rather quizzically to one side as she looks at them.

"This is Jesse." Aiden sounds even shorter than usual, although still courteous. He must not like Harper too much.

Then again, Gill _did_ say that she was weird.

And then

"Romeo assigned them to the... you know, that matter." Jesse briefly wonders why he's talking about this so vaguely until they spot one of the guards walking by briskly and almost officially, marching down the hall and shooting only a momentary quizzical look in their direction.

Harper nods vaguely, still regarding Jesse. A moment later, her brow raises.

"Human?"

Jesse nods back, giving her a little smile. "Yep, I'm human." They lift Reuben, who's snuffling. "This is Reuben. Romeo made him my vessel creature."

Reuben gives Harper a cheery oink, so Jesse figures she's alright.

Harper regards Jesse a moment longer, before her smile returns fully and she reaches out to shake Jesse's hand.

Jesse can't help but smile a little at Harper pausing and glancing at the dust covering her hand before pulling the glove off and extending fingers with tiny scars on the tips, although rather than looking like Romeo's, which look like he's gained them in a bar fight, these just seem to be from rubbing them incessantly on the red dust to the point where they get scratched.

Jesse reaches up and takes it, giving it a squeeze and a little shake.

There is a moment where static electricity shoots through their hands, and Harper freezes.

That is to say, she's still smiling, but her expression is quite blank in her eyes, and she's still regarding Jesse but now her eyes are practically frozen solid as she gazes at Jesse.

Not in a cold way, not as if she's looking at Jesse as if she hates them or she thinks they're disgusting.

It's almost as if the static electricity zipped through her brain for a moment.

"... um... Miss Harper?"

This snaps her out of it, and the woman takes her hand back, tugging the red-dust-covered glove back on and giving Jesse a stern shake of the head. "No miss."

"No... oh. Um... Harper?"

Harper nods, a smile coming back over her face at that. She gives Jesse a pat on the shoulder, which gets a rather large amount of dust on Jesse and gets it stuck to their jacket.

There's a moment of pause as the two look at the handprint-shaped dust mark on their shoulder, before she gives Jesse a mischievous little smile and then ruffles their hair with her gloves.

"Aaaaah, nooooo..." Jesse dissolves into giggles as they try to avoid getting the glittery dust in their hair and fail miserably.

Lukas laughs at that, Gill going over and doing his best to try and swat some of it off with Jesse giggling. He really just gets it on himself, but he doesn't seem to mind so much. "Well, you two get along fine, so that's good. D'you know where Isa and Mevia are, Harper?"

Harper's smiling faintly, still absentmindedly getting some glittery dust in Jesse's hair, which now looks like a fairy's hair. She thinks about it for a minute, before lifting her arm and pointing off in the other direction. "Throne room." She then shifts her arm and points in the other. "Garden."

"Isa's in the throne room, Mevia's in the garden?" Lukas translates, and receives an affirming nod. "Cool. Aiden, you go with Jess and Petra to get Mevia, Gill, Maya and I'll go catch Isa."

He looks to Harper and gives her a pleasant smile, adjusting the corner of his blindfold slightly. "Do you want to come with us, Harper? We need to talk to all three of you."

Harper considers this for a moment, before shaking her head. "I have to resize an observer and connect it to a redstone comparator to boost the signal and make this effectively connect to the daylight sensor better because it doesn't work inside. I also need to find a repeater and hope that it'll react to light rather than simply only daylight."

Jesse blinks at this while Lukas just nods, apparently not perturbed by the amount of words and techno-jargon that just came out of Harper's mouth. "Alright. We'll meet you at the throne room, okay?"

Harper nods and lifts her hand in a wave. "See you."

"Bye!" Jesse calls, before they pop after Petra and Aiden, who are already halfway down the hall if rapidly fading footsteps are any indication.

Harper waits until everyone's left the room before her mild smile falls into an almost heartbroken stare in the direction Jesse ran off in, the door slowly beginning to swing back shut.

"Who did that to you?"

And then there's a click as the wooden door swings back shut.

* * *

Isa looks up when the door to the throne room swings open. She seems to be sitting cross-legged on the floor and rubbing a chicken with a crown lopsided on their head.

Reginald gives Isa a grin. "Look who showed up on the doorstep."

Her eyes light up, and she springs up with surprising ease and makes it to the door in only a few steps, wrapping the three of them in a hug. "Oh, it's lovely to see you! Is Aiden with you? I'm surprised, you four are usually inseparable."

She pauses, shooting them a scolding look. "You know, I do recall telling you all to write more often."

Lukas has the grace to look sheepish. "You know Romeo, he keeps us busy..."

She rolls her eyes. "Of course he does." Her face breaks into a huge smile as Maya chuckles, running a hand through walnut-brown hair. "Did Aiden decide not to come?"

"No, he's here, he just... needed to go get Mevia as well," Gill murmurs, scratching his cheek.

Isa probably notices his apprehensive look, because she gives him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Aiden knows better than to try to sneak up on her. He'll be fine."

When he relaxes, she clasps her hands together and gives them a radiant smile. "Well, it's lovely to see you, anyhow. What brings you back to Sky City?" She pauses a moment later. "You haven't had any water since you've come, right?"

"No, no, Reginald warned us about it," Maya reassures her, making the woman relax slightly , "we wouldn't be so stupid to just drink the water again after such a long time."

"But, uh," Lukas adjusts his blindfold, "we actually do need to ask you three a favor."

"All three of us?" When the three of them nod, Isa's face becomes a little more sober. Benedict, apparently picking up on Isa's mood, clucks with slight concern. "It has to do with the keys, doesn't it?"

When the three of them nod again, Isa folds her hands slightly and gives a firm nod. "Yes... alright. Hopefully Harper and Mevia'll get here soon and we can discuss that, then."

* * *

Jesse likes the garden.

Aiden seems to like it too, looking at several of the blossoms and vines with incredible interest, although he does point out to Jesse to not touch any of the flowers; they are probably carnivorous or poisonous.

Petra helps by mentioning that once she went to look at some black roses and the roses tried to eat her.

So beyond the fact that Jesse has entrusted Reuben to Petra and is now practically on Aiden's heels to avoid getting eaten, they like the garden.

Aiden makes a frustrated sound moments later. "Damn, Mevia wanders off and then she's just goddamn impossible to find."

A moment later, he proceeds to literally run into someone.

There's a moment of a stunned gasp, Aiden stepping back a step while clutching at his forehead with a pained sound, the other person catching their own balance before-

Something heavy and sharp whips over Aiden's shoulder and misses it by half an inch, Petra yelling a swear as she drops Reuben and dives out of the way. Jesse turns in time to see an axe thud into a tree, the blade sinking in practically up to the hilt.

Aiden yells his own swear a second later, and Jesse turns back to see a woman with pale blue hair gritting her teeth and glaring at them with red eyes, the pupil looking rather large as she pulls another axe out of her inventory, raising it and preparing to throw another one-

Jesse realizes that it's not her pupil. There's a ring of black around her pupil.

Red eye with a ring of black iris around her pupil and pale blue hair, which means-

"Wait!"

The axe is about to leave the woman's hand when she tightens her grip again to avoid hurling it at them, which means that the gleaming blade is following through along with her arm, which further means it slams into the stone path and bounces slightly, sending a spray of sparks everywhere as Mevia jolts, gritting her teeth.

Jesse hops out in front of Aiden, hands up in surrender. "We're not bad! We promise!"

She blinks a few times at them, looking comically tiny compared to Aiden and Petra, before looking up at the other two.

Her glare fades into simply raised eyebrows at the two familiar faces. "Aiden? Petra?" She straightens back up, lifting the axe and putting it away as she regards the two with faint surprise. "What are you two doing here?" She pauses, before glancing at Jesse. "Are they new?"

"Well, yes and no, this is Jesse-"

"Oh, that human that went into Narvid, yes," Mevia cuts Aiden off before he can finish, thumbing her lip as she regards them. "Hmm, looks like Romeo didn't eat their heart. Surprising; he's got less resolve than that usually."

Jesse decides not to comment on that, although Reuben does and he gives her a rather offended oink.

She keeps looking at Jesse. Her gaze is rather even, but Jesse doesn't seem to mind and just smiles brightly, sticking out their hand to shake. "Hi. I'm Jesse," they say cheerfully. "You're Mevia, right?"

She nods almost grudgingly, taking their hand and giving it a squeeze. "Yes... sorry about attacking you." The second part seems to be as a second thought.

Jesse gives her a sheepish little smile. "It's fine... I'm starting to get used to it, unfortunately."

Petra gives a laugh at that, and even Aiden cracks a tiny smile. Mevia's lips momentarily quirk up, but the smile is gone before Jesse can really place it being there.

"Fine. Come on, then," and Mevia begins to lead the way out of the almost labyrinthian maze of flowers and plants. "Let's meet up with the other two."

* * *

 **A/N: So if all that redstone jargon is wrong, I apologize; I literally just found components and b-sed it xD**

 **I hope you guys had a great holiday! School is both... kicking into gear and doing nothing, and I've got a different project to work on (actually a lot of them) so... yeah.**

 **Pain xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Princess of Muffins: I'm impressed that you managed to somehow comment on chapter 22 when there aren't 22 chapters to comment on xD / Hehehe xD / They arreeeee xD / Nah, Reginald's great. / It's not so wonderful xD / You too!**

 **LegendEmpress: Even so, that's not immediately off the bat xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: Hehe, it's a funny look. xD / Yes, Reginald is great x3 / It's not necessarily WRONG, but it's not great.**

 **ThinMintE06: Hehe, that's fun to write. They swear a lot, though xD / They are! / I hope you had a lovely New Years as well!**

 **Darkbeast Dend: There is a reason xD**

 **A-Problematic-Writer: Ahhh, thank you!**

 **That's all! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	23. Cockatrices and Craziness

Harper turns to look at them as Mevia draws even with them at the door. She smiles again, flicking a long lock of white hair to the side and making it glitter red in the light. "Hello, Mevia. I see you've met Jesse."

Apparently Gill's comment about Harper speaking 'normally' to other lords but not to other people was fairly accurate.

"Yes." She glances down at the tiny human, who just blinks back at her. "They're small."

"Very." Harper gives Jesse a lopsided smile before opening the door and walking in. "The others are already inside. We should begin."

Mevia raises her eyebrow and glances at Aiden, who's been doing his best to avoid talking to her the entire time. "What's so big that you need to talk to all three of us about it?"

"The keys," he replies simply.

Instantly, Mevia's somewhat dour demeanor softens into one of faint surprise. "Oh." Her sharp manner goes to something smoother, her hands folding carefully in front of her as she ponders this for a moment. "Oh, I see... yes, we should probably get on that."

She sweeps into the room, black-and-red dress sweeping the floor slightly as she enters. Aiden waits for her to fully enter before following, Petra quickly trotting after and leaving Jesse and Reuben to bring up the end.

A woman with fine black hair and red eyes with a ring of green around the pupil turns to look at them. Her expression lights up, and a moment later she's dashed forward and is wrapping Aiden in a hug. "Oh, _look_ at you! You've shot up an inch."

"He'd better not beat me," Petra grumbles halfheartedly, but she's grinning.

Aiden's face has softened into a smile as he gives the older demon a squeeze. "Hey, Isa. How have you been? Sky City gotten any more hectic?"

"No, thankfully. You four were right, hiring Milo has done a world of help for our stress levels," the woman chuckles, eyes sparkling as she pulls back from the hug.

"By 'our' stress levels, you mean 'your' stress levels," Harper points out in a vaguely exasperated yet amused tone from where she's hiding slightly behind Mevia.

Maybe she doesn't like other demons. Jesse can't really blame her.

Isa rolls her eyes at the other lord. "Fine, _my_ stress levels, if you're going to be that picky, Harper." She turns back to Aiden, releasing him and giving his hands a squeeze. "You're all here to discuss something about the keys, aren't you?"

A moment later, her eyes flicker to Jesse. There's a moment of confusion, before her eyes widen and she's suddenly stooping down and cupping their face, turning it from side to side. "Oh... you're a human, aren't you? I'm impressed you've made it this far without someone trying to eat you."

"The clothes do help... although the overalls are definitely still very human," Mevia muses, glancing over the fuzzy black jacket and red shirt Jesse is wearing. "Very clean, though."

"Well, we're not about to have a human go fight through a horde of demons, now are we?" Maya points out, but she's smiling anyway.

Reuben squeals, and a moment later something soft bumps into Jesse's legs. They look down to see a small chicken with a tiny crown and medallion clucking up at them.

"Oh!" Jesse stoops down, setting Reuben down on the floor and giving the chicken a little smile. "Hi there. You're very pretty, aren't you?"

The chicken clucks happily, giving Jesse's hand a friendly nip before butting up against their legs.

Isa smiles down at the chicken as well, reaching down and running a hand over the feathers. "Well, Jesse, it looks like Benedict quite likes you. And don't worry, she's harmless. Unless she's angry at you, but she very rarely is and trust me... you will be able to tell if she is angry."

"Ahh, okay..." Jesse rubs the chicken's head gently, which makes Benedict cluck happily. Reuben snuffles at the chicken, who also seems to like the vessel creature quite a bit.

Gill gives a nervous laugh, making Jesse look up at him. He seems to have been caught in the middle of an argument with Maya, because Maya looks taken aback by the lack and Lukas looks as though he's been physically interjecting in the argument. "Oh man. Uh, so, Isa's got, like... a really good knack with animals in Cosmos. I think some people have called her the Beast Tamer Lord."

Isa rolls her eyes at him, tsking slightly. "Gill, don't exaggerate," she chides, but there's a smile tugging at her lips.

Mevia speaks again, watching Benedict cluck happily. "The reason she's called that is twofold; one, she was able to tame a Cosmos horse in the shortest time known in Cosmos history, which was about three days."

"I think Jesse beat her out, they rode a horse for about half a day and then the horse branded them," Petra says, sounding vaguely amused.

Harper gives Isa a grin. "Competition," she hums, in a faintly sing-songy voice.

The look Isa gives Jesse now is one that is rather more impressed than before. If she'd been impressed at them not being dead, she was now _very_ impressed with them taming a Cosmos horse. Jesse gets the feeling taming Bob is a bigger deal than staying alive. "Did they _really_..."

"The second reason," Mevia cuts back in, a vaguely amused expression on her face that has the hints of being somewhat exasperated at being interrupted, "is because she's the only demon who's managed to tame a hybrid creature as a familiar."

Jesse looks at Benedict.

Benedict clucks.

"Benedict's a hybrid?"

"Oh, yes." Isa nods and tickles the chicken under the chicken, making Benedict cluck quite happily. "Most other demons have a creature that can take on a more friendly form- like most demons themselves. However," she smiles down at Benedict, "Benedict's special in that their friendly form _is_ one of their magical forms. You see, Benedict is a cockatrice-Eversource hybrid."

Jesse frowns slightly, pondering this. "... aren't cockatrices those... chicken-y animals where a rooster lays an egg and then a toad or snake incubates it and then it can kill someone by looking at them?"

A delighted smile spreads over her face, and she gives Aiden a mischievous grin that takes even more years off of her already youthful face. "I do believe you owe me a pastry now, Aiden."

Aiden groans loudly. "Look, _most_ people don't know what a cockatrice is before you tell them..." he complains, but he doesn't seem too annoyed about having to buy Isa a pastry.

"Yes. Benedict's more real form is... well, imagine a small dragon, but with Benedict's head and red eyes, and you've got Benedict's real form. I'm not certain what Benedict looks like, in all certainty, she melted the camera when we tried to take a picture and we're not really wanting to look at her head-on in that form unless it's from behind her."

Harper crosses her arms. "I had to rebuild it. You're lucky I still had the blueprints and notes," she tells Isa, but there's a smile tugging at her face anyway.

"Thank you very much Harper, I deeply apologize for ruining the camera," Isa tells her in a tone that is slightly less than sincere but still amused, before glancing at Jesse. "The other half of Benedict is that she's an Eversource. Put simply... she lays eggs of other Cosmian creatures that we can then kill or shear to harvest items from and have an endless supply of whatever comes from creatures. Most of them are things we would want to kill anyway, so don't feel too badly," she adds quickly, upon seeing Jesse's dismayed face at the idea of killing animals.

Jesse looks down at Benedict, who clucks happily up at them. "... oh."

Lukas chuckles and goes over to pat them on the head, making the human blink up at him bemusedly. "Yeah, uh, maybe we could get the meeting started and discuss what we came here for? We're not trying to make Jesse's head explode."

"Oh!" Isa straightens up, a faint flush coming over her face as she realizes she's probably been rambling on about the pet.

Not that Jesse minds. Jesse likes animals.

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry." The woman clears her throat, quickly gliding across the floor and seating herself in a high-backed chair. Mevia and Harper follow suit, Mevia seating herself to Isa's right and Harper sitting quietly on the left without much fuss. Isa clears her throat again and straightens, face losing a bit of the faint embarrassment from rambling on about Benedict. "What matters have you come to approach us about?"

Gill gives Reginald a look. Reginald rolls his eyes and mouths something about politics back.

"Yes... you've heard about the party to be held in Yurin, right?" Lukas asks, tilting his head at the three of them.

"Oh, the party..." Isa nods, thumbing the corner of her mouth rather thoughtfully. "Yes... I believe the popular rumor is that nobody from Narvid was invited."

"Stella was invited." Harper is frowning now at the other two lords. "And Binta."

"Binta's the baroness in Fred's Keep, to the north of the Underneath," Gill tells Jesse in a stage whisper at their vaguely blank expression.

"Oh."

Mevia gives Harper a vaguely amused look at her comment. "Well, we know that, but then the Warden and Romeo weren't, and they're more... infamous among the denizens of Cosmos, than Stella and Binta. It's easy to overlook Binta sometimes."

"Sexism," Isa mutters under her breath.

A moment later, Mevia frowns thoughtfully and glances at the October Children, Petra, and Jesse. "Ah... could it be that you want help entering the party?"

"It would be appreciated," Aiden says politely, inclining his head slightly at the seated lords.

Petra shrugs. "I _did_ receive an invitation, so I'm fine... but yeah, I think those five need one if we're going to get in and poke around for the key. And we _do_ have about a month."

"Yes... well, of course we can help you enter the party-" Isa is cut off by Harper, who's leaned across the table to tap her on the shoulder. "Harper?"

Harper jerks her head at the October Children. She doesn't say anything at all, and yet Jesse can tell that a look passes between the three that conveys a world of words and knowledge, the kind of knowledge that only exists in the same mind.

That is confirmed when Mevia pulls away and looks at the October Children. "Actually," she begins, in a faintly hesitant voice.

But only faintly.

"We can help you with entering the party. But it would be appreciated if you could do a favor for the three of us...?" The request trails off, and yet Jesse gets the strange feeling that coming from the three lords, the request is tantamount almost to a demand.

At least it's a rather politely phrased demand.

Lukas turns to look at the other October Children. "I have no trouble doing a favor. What about you guys?"

Maya shrugs, playing with the thread on her sleeve. "As long as the favor doesn't involve any murder of fellow half-demons or just demons, I'm good with it."

"I guess it's good practice," Gill agrees, stretching enough that Jesse can hear his spine pop a little bit as he does so.

Aiden sighs and gives Isa a slightly tired smile. "Well, you've done more than enough for us. One small favor won't be the end of the world. What is it?"

"There is a creature that holds immense power to the east of here. It's partway between the End and Sky City," Isa begins, almost mulling her words over after giving them a grateful smile.

"We desire that power," Mevia says simply.

"Bring it to us alive," Harper chimes in without skipping a beat.

"And we'll help you get into the party and beyond that," the three lords chorus in complete unison.

Jesse supposes it's easy to speak in total unison if the three of them are literally all the same person.

Aiden frowns slightly. "Sorry if this is a private matter," he begins, giving Isa a faintly apologetic smile that she waves off quickly, "but I've never known you three to desire power. Maybe Mevia sometimes-"

Mevia gives the other two lords a grin when they look at her.

"But not all three of you. What gives?"

The three lords glance at each other, before Isa looks back at Aiden. Her smile has faded to a look that is almost regally icy. "We believe that the creature has enough power to neutralize the radiation in Sky City."

Gill's eyes widen, jaw eking open. "Wha... _that_ powerful? Are you serious?"

"Deadly," Mevia replies quietly, her own smirk having faded to a serious expression that is almost at odds with the glare or smirk that is perpetually on her face.

Even though everyone is exchanging looks that show they clearly understand, Jesse feels as though they've missed something vital.

So they clear their throat and raise their hand slightly. "Um... radiation?"

Every eye in the room snaps to them. There is a moment of pause.

And then the moment passes.

Harper gestures vaguely around them. "Smoke?"

Jesse blinks, scratching their cheek. "Well, I don't smoke, but I've seen all that smoke and steam and stuff rising from under the platforms, and I assume that's what you're talking about."

"Yes, if you smoked I'd have to slap you," Lukas said, giving them a look that Jesse can only assume is scolding.

Harper covers her mouth. She looks like she might be coughing.

But Jesse can still see her smile when she lowers her hand.

Isa decides to pick up on the topic. "Right. That smoke? It's an effect of... radiation, I guess you could say, that keeps Cosmo's magic and matter together. It's the reason Cosmos is easily habitable for demons. The problem is, the demons who first built Sky City didn't realize that heavy exposure to the radiation could result in... well..."

She ponders this for a moment longer, before shifting out of the throne again.

Lukas, without warning, picks Jesse up. Jesse yelps as he does so, bouncing as he backs up several feet, away from the throne. He doesn't seem to be the only one with that reaction; Aiden has also backed away a few paces while Maya sidles behind Gill. Harper and Mevia also have pressed their backs into their own thrones. Reginald, who has been near the door, is now pressing his back into the wall.

Jesse only has a moment to wonder why before Isa's form shifts into an indistinct glow. Her form begins to change, quickly but steadily. Indistinct blobs of form sharpen and shape themselves, snapping into focus quite quickly, shaping and shaping and carving itself, the glow growing larger and larger-

Two hands slam into the ground, inches from Jesse and Lukas.

Not to mention, they're about the size of Jesse and Lukas combined as well.

Four eyes the size of a television blink open, unevenly and opening and closing until they're all staring right at Jesse. The pupils are all a uniform red, except for the patches around the pupils which are very awkward sizes. One is the size of a donut, and the other almost fills the red.

The shape of Isa's head has changed. The jaw has unhinged to reveal dozens and dozens of rows of sharp, gleaming white teeth, practically needlepoints guarding a sharp, snakelike tongue. The back has cracked into a spiny, monstrous thing, scaly and leathery and gleaming gold in the light, and the hands are only vaguely human (with claws set in them, except for nails), with gnarled, overly large knuckles and joints.

The legs bend wrong, looking more like a cat's than a human's in terms of the way they bend, and yet they are distinctly reptilian and human all at once, with long feet that almost feel like a rabbit's. Six tails twist and turn in the air behind her, barely able to move without brushing against Mevia and Harper, who are simply watching with mild, if not emotionless, expressions.

Jesse can't really think of anything to say to this except:

"Oh."

* * *

 **A/N: Did you think demons in Cosmos just looked like humans with red eyes?**

 **Most of them choose that form because it's more convenient.**

 **But demons are not the same level as humans. They are not the same species.**

 **And they are not the same in their appearance, either.**

 **Also I watched the newest Steven Universe episode and damn, they pulled out all the stops xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **A-Problematic-Writer: Hehe, neither am I. xD / Heheeeee, yeah, that'd be cute. / Ahhh, thank you!**

 **TheAmberShadow: It went xD / Hm... perhaps x3 / Partially because of that, but also because, let's face it, she thought Jesse was an evil thief in the actual episodes xD / :P**

 **ThinMintE06: Cosmian flowers are less plants... and more along the lines of living animals. Imagine a plant with an animal's brain, and you've got Cosmos plants. / You think? / Hehe, so would I, except I have no dog xD**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Thank you!**

 **Toni42: That IS my favorite line. I liked that line. / xD / Indeed, indeed it is xD / (shrugs) / It's nothing _too_ serious, but he should get it checked out soon. / Harper is a lovely xD / Perhaps xD **

**That's all! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	24. Let Us Begin

Isa shrinks back down to normal in the span of less than half a second. She seems almost relieved at not being in that form.

(Then again, she's almost bigger than the room in that other form. So maybe it's just a matter of it being uncomfortable or something. Jesse can imagine it would be rather uncomfortable to be crammed into a space that you can barely fit in without contorting into thirty different yoga poses at once.

Now they're wondering if she does yoga. Wonderful.)

"On the contrary, most demons don't look like a giant monster made out of clay. Most of them, while having frightening appearances, do still have more human elements."

Isa rolls her eyes, for some reason. "I've heard so many demons complain about how much 'lesser' that seems, but then they're the ones going around looking like humans."

 _Ah, that's why._

Mevia snorts. "They're a bunch of bloody hypocrites."

"What the extended, heavy radiation does," Isa resumes after giving a single rather emphatic nod to that statement, "is that it changes our true form. Extra eyes, extra appendages, sometimes mutating the size of limbs or the appearance of 'skin' or 'hair'. Perhaps to the contrary of what many think, I didn't always have six tails and four eyes. And I'm not supposed to be _that_ big."

Jesse thumbs the corner of their mouth, taking that into consideration. "I see..."

"For us lords, the radiation isn't that bad, because it amplifies the power we already have and that helps to nullify the unbalancing or sometimes detrimental effects of developing scales or skin, extra limbs that could potentially be horribly unbalancing, or an extra eye that could add too much perspective."

Mevia picks up now. "But many of the inhabitants in Sky City find that those extra effects give them a distinct disadvantage in battles in that form, and unfortunately those disadvantages sometimes carries into their more human form. We had one demon who grew a third arm in the center of their chest, and even in their human form it caused lung and heart problems until they died."

"It wasn't very soon afterwards. They were in a fight. That extra arm was a hindrance even when it wasn't physically present," Isa adds quite bluntly.

"... I see..." Jesse feels as though they've been saying 'I see' too much.

"Water." Harper taps her lip and shakes her head. "Worse."

"Oh, yes, the water carries the radiation more heavily. As bad as it is to inhale the radiation and be sitting in basically a stewpot of magical radiation all day," Mevia picks up again, "it's even worse to actually ingest it as though it were water, at least to newcomers, and can actually be dangerous in that amount of concentration. The citizens of Sky City are used to it, and to a point the smoke or simply having the radiation on one's skin helps to nullify the effects and make them a little less violent."

Jesse has to wonder how Mevia managed to get all of that out of two words.

"But neutralizing the radiation could potentially reduce some of the side effects," Isa chimes in.

"Stop picking up perfectly, it's creepy," Gill murmurs to himself a bit louder than he perhaps intended.

Maya stamps on his foot.

"Or even reverse them," Isa continues, perhaps ignoring the way Gill is now cussing and hopping up and down in pain. "To a point, it could make it safer to live here without worrying about the effects of the radiation, or at least have a more solid method of stopping it from getting to the point where it could be dangerous even in our human forms."

"Which is why something immensely powerful could be helpful to us," Mevia agrees. "With that power, it could just stop the radiation from getting worse."

Lukas gives the three lords a pleasant smile and a slight incline of the head. "If that is the reason you three are looking to capture the creature, then I suppose we wouldn't mind helping out. It's only fair."

"Thank you," Harper utters, but she's smiling in faint relief.

( _Perhaps she was thinking they would say no. They can't really blame her._ )

"In that case, we leaving Jesse here?" Gill asks, cocking his head to the side. "I mean, I'm sure they'd be safe in the palace, but I don't know most of the guards, and I'm not sure how comfortable I am leaving them in a crowd of demons that very much would like to eat them."

Maya frowns, crossing her arms. "Oh, that's true... and we can hardly have Isa or Mevia tote them around, they're all pretty busy and I dunno how long it's going to take..."

Petra glances down at them as Jesse timidly pipes up, twisting their fingers slightly while Reuben snuffles happily in their grip. "I... um... I wanna come, too."

Harper's smile turns down at the corners into a slight frown. "Safe?"

"I don't know... it could be dangerous for a human to just sort of be shoved in there," Mevia frowns, rubbing a finger along her jaw as she stares hard at the human. "For both you and everyone involved."

Jesse purses their lips slightly, tilting their head to one side. "I can just run away from the creature, if it comes to it... or hide."

"You would be very good at hiding," Aiden replies drily, but Isa's got her arms crossed and is frowning at Jesse now.

"It'd be pretty dangerous, unless you're very quick and can move quickly..."

She ponders this for a moment, before cocking her head at them and giving them a lopsided smile. "Why don't we try something? If you can get through a challenge of ours without getting hit, you can go along with them. Otherwise we'll have to figure something else out, since... if you're still, I imagine Romeo would be quite angry about you ending up dead."

Jesse blinks a couple of times at this.

"What's the challenge?"

Harper crosses her arms, giving Mevia a pondering sort of look. "Agility?"

"Agility could work..." Mevia glances at Isa, a question in her eyes. Upon receiving Isa's nod, she turns back to Jesse.

"We would put you through a challenge that would test how well you can dodge. The creature is powerful enough that shielding would probably result in simply shattering the shield, so it would be more of a test of your reflexes and speed to make sure you'd be able to dodge the creature's attacks. I assume you're not going to actually be fighting," she adds.

Jesse shakes their head quite rapidly at that. "No, I would die instantly."

"You're not wrong," Aiden mumbles under his breath.

Lukas steps on his foot.

"Then it would be best to make sure you have the ability to move out of the way quickly if necessary," Isa picks up, shooting Aiden a faintly amused look as he hops up and down and swears quietly, glaring halfheartedly at Lukas the whole time. "We won't use any real weapons or attacks. It would just be a test of reflexes and speed."

Jesse blinks at her.

... well, they can run pretty quick... and their reflexes aren't that bad, really.

"... okay."

* * *

"Ready?"

"No."

Isa can't help but smile at the response from the tiny human standing at the other end of the hallway. They're quite hard to see, except for a little fuzzy black jacket and their fluffy hair. "We're not going to hurt you. If anything the weapons will give you a small bruise, but they're practice weapons and not that bad."

"... I'm still not ready."

Aiden snorts from where he is behind the wooden fenced-off area that they're standing in, and Mevia laughs at that. Actually _laughs_. "Fair enough, but we gotta do it anyway."

"Okay."

Harper is giving Jesse a rather amused/fond/sad sort of look, before her red-and-gray eyes flicker to the other two.

 _They're adorable._

Isa's lips quirk into a smile, eyes gravitating over to Jesse.

 _They are,_ she responds mentally as well. _They'll probably go for me or Harper, since we are less threatening than you are, Mevia._

 _You_ appear _less threatening._

Isa resists the urge to roll her eyes. _Fine. We_ appear _less threatening. But the fact remains that they'll most likely head for us, so we should keep our attacks in that area._

Harper nods and looks back at Jesse. "Jesse, are you ready now?"

"No, but we can start..."

 _At least they're honest._

The thought goes through all three women's heads at the same time, before Isa lifts her hand. "Let us begin, then," she says simply.

The human lifts their hand and gives a thumbs' up.

Mevia's wrist quirks, and a wooden axe is suddenly spinning over and over, sailing in a would-be-deadly-if-it-was-real arc at Jesse-

Jesse skips sideways, the axe clacking and spinning as it bounces on the floor harmlessly before it zips off of the floor and back into Mevia's grip.

Jesse looks at where the axe was, about three feet from where they are standing now, then back up at the three.

They start to jog towards the three lords.

Several small, mechanical bundles of redstone fly from Harper's hand. Jesse breaks into a near-sprint, abruptly going from ten to a hundred and dashing across the hallway as they manage to hop, skip, and tumble around one of the redstone bundles and avoid tripping and falling flat on their face.

A minute later, all of the bundles detonate, spraying a fine spray of gunpowder everywhere.

Not another minute later, the entire mess gives off several tiny, popping explosions.

Jesse's going in a full-out sprint now, ignoring the tiny explosions, already having reached the halfway point.

Isa shifts and then leaps forward from where she's standing in the center of the three, a flicker of light on wood changing in her hands as she shoots forward-

Jesse has barely touched down into their next step before they're sidestepping a wooden blade sweeping through the air, right through where they were moments before and narrowly missing thwacking painfully into their head.

Isa's red eyes flicker down, and she launches herself backwards, making Jesse do a backwards tumble as the resulting wind from the jump is strong enough to bowl them over.

The tumble doesn't break their momentum, though, as the moment their feet touch down solidly they are digging into the ground before spitting them forward rapidly.

Lukas hums thoughtfully, leaning forward and resting his chin on his hand. "Huh. They're doing a good job. Most people would've gotten knocked out already..."

A wooden axe comes boomeranging at Jesse, and they've barely ducked under it, the wood spinning wildly as it sails up into the air, before they twist their foot to one side and roll in midair, the redstone bundle soaring an _inch_ over their shoulder.

They plop to the floor and roll sideways as the axe spins back around, wheeling through the air above them and back into Mevia's grip, but they don't wait to watch that happen and are already up on their feet again as the 'bomb' pops behind them.

 _... they're doing a good job._

 _Yes. Good reflexes._ Mevia hefts her axe before winding up to throw it at them and flicking her wrist-

Jesse dives to the left, rather than flinching as was Mevia's intention, since Harper's next bomb ( _toy? Mevia's not sure_ ) goes flying straight over them, skittering across the floor and exploding in a small series of pops and sparks that fizzle out against the floor.

Jesse's crossed three-quarters of the room, and they're sprinting directly for Harper.

Isa gives her wrist a little shake, the blade of the wooden sword in her right hand sliding out of the hilt-

\- and continuing to, until it's about the size of a small tree.

Maya whistles, giving a sage nod. "Damn. They're pulling out the big guns now. Longest anyone's survived in this challenge."

Aiden thumbs the corner of his mouth. "They are small, but... I guess it's like watching a squirrel run up a tree. The things are fucking quick."

The wooden sword reacts to the tiniest twitch of Isa's wrist, slamming heavily into the floor inches from Jesse, but the tiny human doesn't flinch or balk at the violent motion, even as the wood of the blade crumples from the impact slightly, and instead just vaults over it and sprints for Harper.

 _... have they had practice fighting before?_

Harper tugs out an object that she honestly would have to call something along the lines of a sci-fi blaster, flicking a few switches to turn it to a safer mode and then raising it to point at Jesse.

 _They seem to be quite good at dodging._

She shoots.

The laser is a harmless beam that honestly will do nothing more than tickle, but it doesn't matter because it completely misses, Jesse ducking down while continuing their sprint before shooting forward like a bullet, still making their way across the hall.

Almost there.

Harper hums, tilting her head slightly and giving them an appraising sort of look before flicking another switch.

Gill blinks. "Oh, that switch..."

Petra glances at him, almost seeming reluctant to take her eyes off of the high-speed one-sided fight where Jesse is ducking and dodging around like a pinball. "You know what it does?"

Harper fires again, but this time the lasers that come out spit out much faster now, several blurs and flashes of movement coming about a millisecond apart, glowing shots of light peppering the air in a blur.

"Yeah, she showed it to me once. I guess she finished her machine gun function."

The human dives forward into a roll, ending up on their feet and practically throwing themselves sideways not a few seconds later in a sort of bizarre cartwheel, narrowly avoiding more of those flashing lasers that burst harmlessly on the wall behind them.

Isa flicks her wrist, wheeling the huge sword around in a motion that makes the wind rush around them, rustling the human's fluffy hair, before arcing down-

The human bolts forward.

There is a small space between the two that the human shoots through, almost as though fired from a cannon, their movement sending them halfway across the room in a single motion.

Harper's arm lowers as she turns to look at them.

 _... oh._

Isa glances at her at the thought that flits through Harper's head and is shared by the other two.

 _That was clever._

In a flying leap, the human manages to cross the rest of the space needled to tackle Mevia back a step, arms locking around her tightly in a sort of rough hug.

The last few lasers burst against the wall, leaving the room in disarray without looking as though it was torn apart.

Lukas whistles slightly, drumming his fingers on the fence while Gill, Maya, Aiden, and Petra stare wordlessly at the human, mouths all hanging open. "Well, they're a bundle of surprises, aren't they."

Mevia blinks down at the tiny human currently hugging her around the midriff, panting like a tiny puppy and trembling from where they're hugging her tightly, before a ghost of a smile quirks over her mouth and she pats them on the back.

"Good job."

Jesse gives her a small thumbs' up, still trembling in her grip from where they're clinging to her.

Harper gently pulls Jesse off of Mevia and lifts them up to eye height.

Their eyes are slightly glazed over with the effort of exertion, but they also have a slightly frightened expression on their face from perhaps the violence of the attacks, regardless of the fact that none of the weapons were really real weapons.

She pokes their cheek.

They blink glazed eyes without really reacting.

She gives a sigh and pulls them to her in a sort of awkward hug. "Oh, gravel."

* * *

 **A/N: Jesse's very good at dodging and fighting; but only close-combat and most of their skill is in dodging and running away. There is a reason for this.**

 **And no, the reason is not that Jesse has superpowers. xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **ThinMintE06: Not quite xD / No, it will definitely not xD / Indeed x3**

 **TheAmberShadow: No, not quite. Basilisks are the reverse of cockatrices; they are born from the egg of a serpent or a toad and then hatched by the rooster. Cockatrices are born from the egg of a rooster (which is impossible but whatever) and then hatched by the serpent or toad.**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Thank you!**

 **That's it for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	25. Communicating is Hard, Okay?

Harper stoops down to pick up a fallen comparator, glancing over at Jesse, who is sitting on a cot in the corner and playing with Reuben happily.

If not somewhat shakily.

After the somewhat-successful test (which resulted in Jesse not really being that responsive for an hour out of shock from all the attacks, which meant that they just sort of trailed after Harper or just sat on the floor and stared off into space occasionally), Isa decided the October Children should rest before going to face the creature the next day.

Well, and so that Jesse wouldn't basically rag-doll during what was shaping up to be a fight.

That would be quite inconvenient.

If not deadly.

( _They were_ pretty _sure Jesse would go back to normal the next day._ )

"Oh, hey, what _is_ the creature?" Maya asked at one point before she was about to head off to her room, the other October Children pausing in the doorway along with her.

Petra wasn't with them due to the fact that she'd been trying to coax Jesse off of clinging onto Harper for the past half an hour and was still attempting to, Jesse just hugging Harper with a faintly blank-frightened expression and blinking periodically like a baby koala.

(Harper was sorely tempted to turn Jesse into a baby koala just to see what they looked like as one.

She was repressing the urge quite impressively.)

"We should probably have a better idea of what we're going to be handling," Maya continued, Lukas giving the tiniest inclination of his head in agreement.

Mevia shrugged nonchalantly in reply. "We don't know."

At the absolutely boggled looks all five half-demons proceeded to send her, she quickly amended, "Or, rather, we don't know _exactly_. We know it's large."

"It's dangerous enough that some of the demons we've sent have either... _not_ come back... or just came back..." Isa looked over at Harper and Jesse.

Harper glanced at Jesse, who was still clinging onto her.

She hefted them up slightly, poking their cheek experimentally.

They blinked again, still not really reacting.

"Well, a bit like Jesse, really, except more permanent," Isa finished, going over and giving Jesse's a pat, as if they were some sort of pet.

They blinked once more.

Gill rubbed the bridge of his nose, making a soft sound of frustration. "Yes, but you don't know what it _is?_ " he asked, incredulity evident in every word he spoke.

"No, but we know it's not very reliant on magic," Isa adds, fairly brightly.

"Yes, Isa, that's _not helpful at all_ -"

Harper shook her head softly, giving her eyes a roll at the memory of Lukas stamping on Aiden's foot to get him to stop talking.

He tended to do that a fair bit with Aiden, in all honesty.

She glanced over at Jesse, who had rolled over when Reuben had plopped onto their chest a minute before and were now giggling as the pig gently walked on their chest, oinking happily.

They had not released her until she'd set them down on her (slightly dirty) cot; and then Reuben had wiggled his way into their arms and they'd blinked before sitting back and leaning against the wall, focusing carefully on the little pig.

It had eventually improved from staring to smiling to playing slightly, and then Jesse had ended up on their back on the bed giggling happily while the pig walked around.

She dusted some redstone dust off her hands and drifted over to them. A small smile was tugging at her lips at the sight of Jesse squirming gently with the little pig.

It was a cute pig.

"Cute."

( _She'd really meant to say 'that's really quite a cute pig', but she was so used to talking mentally or having people around her intuitively understand what she was talking about or even just complete silence that the only thing that came out was the most pertinent word._

 _Sometimes she really wished she'd been the part of Himira who liked to talk to people, and not the one that had spent so much time thinking._ )

Jesse looked up at her as Reuben paused in snuffling against their cheek. "Oh... yeah, Reuben's pretty cute."

Harper couldn't have told you how relieved she was that Jesse had not misinterpreted her words.

They shifted up with the tiny chicken, carefully moving aside and let Harper sit down on the cot next to them, rubbing the pig's head gently.

Harper cocked her head at Jesse, who was still rubbing Reuben down gently. "Better?"

"Hm?" Her head popped up to let their eyes move up to meet hers. "Better than what?"

Harper shook her head gently, tapping Jesse on the shoulder and getting some glittery red dust on the fuzzy black jacket they'd been wearing. "You." Then she cocked her head to one side, blinking at Jesse almost hesitantly. "Better?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm okay." They blinked up at her with large green eyes.

( _Any demon just had to look at their eyes and they'd know they weren't a demon._

 _She had to wonder what Ivor's opinion of them would be. He'd always had a soft spot for cute things._

 _She also had to wonder why she was suddenly wondering what Ivor's opinion of Jesse would be._ )

"Good." She took off her glove and patted them on the fuzzy jacket, making little shivers of something _wrong_ sneak up her hand, not just one but _several_ ( _mental scarring, physical, someone doing something very very_ wrong _to them_ ), but she didn't reveal the shivers, not this time.

"Fast."

Jesse seemed to be mulling over her words and trying to puzzle out the meaning, which makes Harper somewhat glad that she can't really communicate properly because _damn_ that's adorable. "I recovered... quickly?"

"No. Movement."

"Oh! I moved fast in the agility challenge?"

Harper gives them an encouraging nod and patted their shoulder ( _they needed it, and she didn't at all care about the shudders that snuck up her hands and her arms when Jesse gave a tiny pink flush of pride_ ). "How?"

"How'd I learn to? Um..." Jesse played with their fingers when they received another confirming nod, Reuben snuffling and pressing his nose to their hands until he nosed his way in and they started rubbing his head, occasionally rubbing his ears between their fingers like it was a piece of felt.

"I used to pass by a dojo on my way to school... a dojo is a place where you practice, like, martial arts and stuff," they said quickly when they noticed Harper's confused look.

She nodded as her confusion cleared up, encouraging them to continue, even as she noticed that they said 'used to'.

Did they walk a different route now? Or perhaps they were already getting used to Cosmos?

( _She wasn't entirely sure which one she hoped it was._ )

"And, uh... there was an area where you could test reflexes and movement... it was pretty cool, actually; most people couldn't get through it well... and sometimes when I didn't really wanna head home, the sensei would let me try in that area, and I just kinda... ended up learning, I guess," Jesse finishes, contemplating this carefully.

Harper tilted her head. "Why?"

"Why would he let me try? I dunno, maybe he liked me or somethin', though I'm not sure why..." Jesse mused over this, apparently having been wondering this for a while.

Harper shook her head at the incorrect interpretation.

Well, internally she was thinking that if the sensei _hadn't_ liked Jesse, she would've had to go into the human world just for the sake of finding that dojo and then smacking him over the head with a baseball bat, but that wasn't the actual question she'd been trying to ask.

"No. Home?"

"Oh, why would I... not wanna go... um..." Jesse twisted their fingers as they realized what she was trying to get at, cheeks pinking slightly. "I... just didn't really wanna."

Harper could feel the lie on their tongue.

She shifted faintly closer, Reuben snuffling gently and rubbing his nose on Jesse's overalls lightly.

"Hurt you?"

Her tone was questioning, and she was trying to avoid her brow creasing slightly although she knew it would do it anyway because it was just the way her brow moved whenever she was concerned and she'd worked to correct the habit for a hundred years and it hadn't happened, so why would it happen _now?_

Jesse's eyes moved to their lap, rubbing the pig gently as they refused to meet her eyes now.

Maybe it was her imagination, but they looked almost afraid to answer the question.

 _Why would they be afraid?_

"No... not really."

Harper frowned, reaching up and gently pressing a finger to their warm cheek.

More shivers shot up her spine, just feeling bad and wrong, but she didn't pull away because Jesse wouldn't look at her otherwise.

All wrong.

Lying, lying, _more lying_ , why were they lying, _why were they afraid_?

"Hurt." She tried to lean down to meet their eyes, blinking gray-and-red irises carefully and slowly, almost as if approaching a skittish little wild animal.

"Who did that to you?"

A really bad shiver went up Harper's arm, making her pull away just as Jesse shifted away from her, hugging the pig tightly, still refusing to meet her eyes, a chasm suddenly forming between the two of them as they looked at each other- well, _she_ looked at them, they still weren't looking up at her.

They both knew Jesse knew what she was talking about, and they both knew that both of them knew, and yet neither of them acknowledged the fact.

It was as if they were waiting for the other to address it.

Neither did.

"Can I sleep in here?"

Harper blinked at Jesse, surprise undoubtedly creeping into her eyes at the sudden, rather awkward request. "Here?"

Jesse bobs their head, shuffling onto the cot again almost shyly. "Yeah... you've got a cot, and- and I mean if you don't want me to, I'm okay with leaving, I just-"

 _I just don't want to sleep alone._

Harper knew what Jesse was going to say even before they said anything, so she just rested a hand on their shoulder and cut off their nervous babbling.

(A little reluctantly, they were quite cute about it, but the startled-cat look they proceeded to give her was quite worth it.)

"Okay."

Jesse blinked at her, still looking quite startled. "I can... stay in here?"

Harper nodded.

"Oh." Jesse twisted their fingers, a shy, sweet little smile creeping over their mouth. Really, it was quite adorable. "Thank you, Harper."

"Yes." She gave their head a little pat, ignoring the shudders that shot up her spine, and got up. The cot creaked slightly from the lessening of weight. "Work."

"You're gonna work more?" Jesse tried, and looked quite pleased when they got it right and she nodded. "Okay... if you need me to go to my room, just wake me up. I don't mind."

Reuben snorted in agreement, puffing up his little pink chest and making both of them laugh fondly at the pig.

(Quite a cute vessel creature.)

(Rather fitting for a cute human.)

"Thank you."

She gave them another light pat, feeling their hair bounce under her hand, before she stood and walked back to where she'd been working, picking up the comparator and looking at the machine, evaluating where to set it next.

In her peripheral vision, she watched Jesse curl up on the cot, still hugging Reuben tightly, and close their eyes.

Several minutes passed of her awkwardly trying to figure out where to place the comparator before she realized Jesse had somehow fallen asleep already, still tightly hugging the little pink pig who was also starting to snuffle as sleep overtook them both.

She walked over, tugged the blanket at the foot of the cot over them both gently, and went back to work.

* * *

It was past midnight before Harper would even admit she was tired. She'd been tinkering with tools and redstone- quietly, to avoid waking up the tiny human, but also because it was not in her nature to be loud and noisy and bothersome, it had _never_ really been in her nature, not even when she and Isa and Mevia had been one person, not even when she wasn't Harper or Isa or Mevia, she'd just been _Himira_ \- to the point where this machine functioned remotely normally, and so she allowed herself to relax, rubbing a red-and-gray eye tiredly and letting out a soft sigh.

Mevia and Isa would be dragging her to bed right around now, if they opened the door and found her still up and working. Cassie would drag her to bed, _Otto_ would, Ivor would threaten to tie her down or drug her with a sleeping potion if she didn't go to bed but halfheartedly, teasingly, careful to make sure she knew he was kidding.

(He was nice that way.)

(They were all nice that way.)

She turned around to her cot, fully intending to curl up in the blankets- and then paused upon seeing the small body entangled in the blankets.

Oh, right. Jesse was borrowing her bed. She'd forgotten.

She debated her options at this point in time.

Option 1: Wake Jesse up and send them back to their room.

Which was probably the most logical option, but at the same time, Jesse was probably rather tired, and waking them up now could make them rather groggy tomorrow, which, considering they were going to face up against a monster, was perhaps not the greatest option.

Not to mention, Harper would have to lead Jesse back to their room, and she wasn't entirely sure of where it was herself.

(Sometimes she regretted the house being as large as it was.)

Option 2: Sleep on the floor.

Which made sense, but Harper wasn't going to lie, she wasn't too happy about _sitting_ on her floor, let alone sleeping on it.

It was covered in redstone and tools and dirt (and dust, she had to admit, she hadn't cleaned for days or weeks or months or years, not properly), not to mention the wood was hard on her back.

(She wasn't as young as she'd been once.)

Option 3: Sleep on the bed with them.

Which made _no_ sense, as she didn't know what Jesse's reaction to waking up with Harper lying next to them in the bed was going to be; not to mention she ran the risk of creeping them out, and goodness knows she didn't want _that_.

But then again, the other options weren't very nice, either.

Finally, after a long while of thinking she sighed and shifted the blanket, shifting aside the tiny lump under the blanket to the side so that she could at least rest halfway stably on the cot before lifting up the blanket and creeping in next to them, adjusting it around them both so that they got a reasonable amount of blanket each.

As it was, she ended up curling around them to keep from knocking them off the cot.

Jesse murmured something and buried their head into her shoulder, instinctively curling towards her in search of warmth or human (well, demon) touch.

She stared down at them, before sighing and shifting a little, resting an arm loosely on their back and encircling them in a one-armed hug, feeling a few shivers of wrong, wrong, _wrong_ sneak up her arms.

Well, if it was this or falling off the bed... she'd pick this.

The little pig snuffled happily in the nest that Jesse and Harper formed, nose twitching as he rolled into Jesse. Jesse's slightly creased brow relaxed slightly as they curled up closer to Harper, breathing a little more easily.

( _Okay. This was nice. She liked this._ )

"Night."

She murmured that to Jesse, who she did not expect to respond- they were fast asleep, after all, not to mention it was quiet, and after all why _would_ they respond besides maybe a grunt even if they _were_ awake-

"Nigh' mom."

Harper's eyes, which had started fluttering shut, snapped wide open as her eyes flicked down to look at Jesse, who was almost curled up against her chest in their sleep now, breathing quietly with soft, even sounds as they had their fingers tangled in her collar.

They called her mom.

Was that who hurt them?

No, because then they would be trying to move away from her, not curl up into her like a tiny human kitten that needed to be petted and cuddled and held and loved, and besides, they would not replace a mother that easily.

Humans were like demons.

They formed attachments quickly.

If it were Jesse's mother, they would not be able to dismiss that attachment that quickly.

( _Then perhaps they don't have a mother,_ her treacherous mind told her. _Perhaps they don't have one at all. Perhaps you can take that role._ )

(She told her mind to shut up. Attachments couldn't be formed _that_ quickly.)

(Could they?)

So that left a father.

Or an uncle.

Or an aunt.

Or even a grandparent.

But that was still too many possibilities, and it could be none of them or even all of them at once. The magnitude of the hurt that Jesse felt was too much for only one person to have dealt to them. That was not the hurt of someone who'd been hurt by one person over and over; it was the hurt of someone who had been beaten down at every opportunity, by every person.

It was wrong.

All wrong.

Too much.

Too many people.

 _Who did that to them?_

Harper looked down at Jesse again, the little tiny seventeen-year-old (seventeen, _seventeen_ , they looked seven and eleven and twelve and thirteen and maybe even fifteen but they looked any and every age except for _seventeen_ ) enveloped against her chest in sleep, clinging to her collar as though it was going to be a last resort that they would need to grasp at at any and every opportunity.

 _Why would anyone do that to them?_

Harper ended up not getting that much sleep that night.

* * *

 **A/N: _This chapter should not have been this hard to write_**

 **Well, this took too long to update, but now I'm done, so here you go! I hope you enjoy. Sorry; I've been doing a bunch of game jams ( _speaking of which I should actually work on one now but I'll do it when I go home_ ), but I hope you like this chapter regardless!**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **FeathersofFancy: I'm really glad you like it! And I'm glad you like the writing, haha. I did my best with it; although lately it's just been slow going. Could be worse though! / I'm sure your writing is fine- you just practice! / Here is the next; I am sorry it took so long xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: Haha, it's cool, I had to look it up and check the difference. / They don't know exactly xD / Ahaha, yeah. / Yes, but not that ominously xD**

 **ThinMintE: Nope! Well, it did have to do with him, but not directly.**

 **LemonsAndMelons: Awww, thank you! I'm really happy to hear that. / Oh well xD / Thank you very much!**

 **Toni42: Hehe xP / Yeah, that was fun.**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Glad you find it interesting! / Update! xP**

 **littleangelbun: Aaaahhh, I'm glad you like it! Long time no see.**

 **Well, that's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	26. And The Powerful Creature Is

The cave loomed high in front of the October Children (plus Petra and Jesse), high enough that when Jesse tilted their head back to look at the top it looked like the opening extended up to swallow the clouds into darkness.

Speaking of darkness, the cave itself was so dark that it was difficult to see more than three feet inside. Seriously; it seemed to be light up until two feet in, and then it looked as though the rest of the insides had been purposefully soaked in squid ink, pitch black that was almost tangible.

Jesse was a little frightened to go near it.

Gill whistled, hands on his hips as he surveyed the maw of the cave with an almost impressed look on his face. "Welp. They weren't kidding when they said we needed to bring light for this."

"No kidding." Lukas squinted into the cave, as if trying to make out more past the almost permeating darkness and having no luck with this attempt, since it was so black that you couldn't have done better than if you'd soaked a piece of paper in ink entirely. "It's a good thing, too; I'm not the best with light spells right now."

"None of us are," Aiden replied, shifting the lantern he was holding.

He hadn't lit it yet- something about wanting to save the oil in case- but he had it at the ready and it was comforting just to see it hooked on his arm, at the ready to be lit just in case they needed it.

"It's nice that they were willing to provide us with stuff," he added after a moment.

"Of course they would; they're not heartless," Petra chimed into the conversation; her sword was resting almost lazily on her shoulder, like she went into caves and fought mystery monsters every day.

Then again, maybe she did. Jesse wouldn't have an idea about what she usually did.

"This'll be interesting. Usually they don't just chuck us straight into the heart of things without warning, you know?"

She mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like ' _that's usually Ivor's job_ ', but Jesse wasn't sure if they'd heard her right so they didn't ask. They got the feeling Ivor was the kind of lord who might be forgetful enough to forget to tell Petra what she was up against.

Romeo was probably the kind of lord to just omit the fact for the drama of it, to be fairly honest.

Maya hummed, flicking some nut-brown hair out of the way of her blue eyes. "Well, I think they usually know... _what_ we're up against."

"True that."

Jesse clutched the straps of their green backpack a little tighter. Reuben snuffled from inside the backpack, his head poking out the top like he was a plushie.

Yes, of course Reuben was inside. Jesse was hardly about to go ducking and diving away from whatever this monster was and leave Reuben scurrying to catch up with them. That was mean.

"Everyone got plenty of those redstone things that Harper gave us?" Lukas double-checked, receiving a chorus of 'yes'es, nods, and a few people holding up the item in question. Jesse unzipped their backpack to show that Reuben was practically padded in the stuff from where he was sitting in the backpack.

* * *

Harper held out several small packets of redstone to the departing October Children- enough that she almost dropped several until everyone took a good handful to alleviate her load.

They honestly looked a little like sugar packets in restaurants that you tear open and then dump into tea or coffee or something, except they were translucent and you could see every granule of redstone plus some kind of mystery goopy substance inside.

Also, you probably wouldn't care to stick this stuff in your tea. Or your coffee. Or in your body in general.

Or maybe you would, but you probably would've just had a stomachache afterwards. Or food poisoning.

"Light," she uttered once everyone had several of the mystery packets.

"These provide light?" Jesse guessed when nothing else was forthcoming, Harper nodding with a pleased sort of smile at the guess.

"Trail."

Jesse looked back at the packets, turning 'trail' over in their head; then back up at the white-haired demon lord with an excited look on their face as it clicked. "Oh! Kinda like Hansel and Gretel breadcrumbs? Except, um..."

They looked at the sugar-like packets in their hands, watching redstone dust smudge around the inside and slurp around in the weird goopy substance.

"... inedible."

"Oh, really? Couldn't have guessed," Gill joked back, even as Harper pointed at Jesse with an almost proud nod for guessing it right.

"Well, yeah, you're a fucking idiot," was Maya's sharp reply.

Gill's response was to nearly break her rib by elbowing her, and her response to this was to smack him over the back of the head with her staff and almost crack his skull since, well, it was her staff.

Things went downhill from there.

Harper mimed throwing, one of the redstone packets in her hand, either not noticing the way Mevia had just picked Maya up and was now holding her across the room from Gill to avoid one of them accidentally maiming the other or just deliberately ignoring it.

Honestly, it was a toss-up either way.

"Throw..." She mimed throwing the packet again.

"Um... throw... like this?" Jesse tossed one of the packets of redstone to the ground.

To their surprise, it immediately started emitting a rosy, warm glow. "Oh!"

"Automatic," Harper added.

Lukas glanced at the packets, then up at Harper. "So if we get separated, we should just toss them down and it'll automatically make a trail so that we can find each other again?" he 'translated'.

Jesse had to honestly wonder how he'd managed to get that out of a single word, especially when Harper nodded at him pleasantly.

Then again, he probably had known Harper long enough to interpret what she was trying to say anyway. So it wasn't all that weird.

"Um... thank you!" they said, giving her a small smile when she looked at them. "I mean, hopefully we... _won't_ , get separated, but it's still good to have in case."

"Yes, it doesn't hurt to be prepared," Isa mused, fiddling with her sleeve as she kept Gill from jumping at Maya with her free elbow. "Do be careful not to crush them, though; I believe these will last for a few hours but it's still better to not activate them until it's necessary."

Jesse nodded seriously, carefully tucking them into the inside pockets of their jackets. ( _Inside pockets were a gift from whatever god or heavenly being existed._ ) "So don't squish 'em unless necessary. Got it."

Mevia's lips twitched at the use of the word 'squish', and she ended up having to turn away so that they didn't see the tiny smile on her face.

It was too late. They'd seen the quirk of her mouth. But they didn't gloat about it.

It was a nice smile.

Harper nodded and gave Jesse a little squeeze, patting their back. "Safe."

"Stay safe?" they translated. "I'll try... I'm not sure how well I'll do, though."

She patted them again. "Agility."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to dodge as much as I can," they promised, which earned them another pat.

They kind of liked it.

* * *

"Well... you guys ready to go in?" Lukas asked, fidgeting with his sleeve slightly and tugging an errant thread that was attached to it. Jesse didn't know if that meant Lukas was nervous.

Actually, it probably did. Lukas wasn't exactly a fidgety person. Petra, sure, maybe even Aiden, but Lukas was more of the type of person to just stare.

Well, stare as well as he could with a blindfold on.

Aiden shrugged nonchalantly. "Nope. Let's do this."

There was a growl, a soft sound that sounded almost like a stomach grumbling for food. Jesse was too nervous to be hungry though, so they knew it wasn't from them. It was probably from Gill; he'd been joking about being hungry the entire walk up until Maya almost shoved him off the walk.

"Gill, eat something. Honestly, don't just let your stomach growl like that, you're going to scare us while in the middle of the cave," Maya scolded him, not taking her eyes from the cave entrance.

"... that was definitely not me. I'm not hungry," he replied. "I thought it was Aiden."

Aiden arched his eyebrow, red eye blinking twice. "Look, if I was hungry, my stomach wouldn't growl _that_ loud. Not to mention we would've called a break to eat," he pointed out. "Lukas?"

Lukas shook his head, crossing his arms. His lips thinned into a line. "Not me. Jesse, I assume it's not you?"

"No... I thought it was from Gill, too." They glanced up at the bigger half-demon, Gill scratching at his beard with one hand nervously.

Jesse realized, with something of a jolt, that Gill's gun was in his hand, already poised to shoot into the cave.

There was another rumble, a growl, but this time it was louder and more present and they could all tell instantly that it was from the cave this time.

Petra's sword was out, and Aiden had his whip at the ready- not in the bladed whip, but rather just something that looked like a stub of a dagger. Lukas's hands went into his pockets as he turned his head from side to side, surveying the area.

A tremor ran through the ground.

Then another.

Jesse looked up from the ground, watching pebbles skitter on the ground from the force of the growl, and realized something very, very pertinent with a little start and this awful, awful sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach.

There were two pinpricks of violet light in the darkness of the cave ahead. Evenly spaced, both at the same height.

Like a pair of eyes.

"Move," Lukas said quietly.

None of them did, all staring at the two glowing violet eyes that bored into their skin, keeping them frozen in place.

Twin wisps of smoke came curling out of the cave, in a huff that smelled of cities burning to the ground and earthy soil crumbling to ash and the kind of metallic smell that one will smell when in a room filled with rusting tools and objects ( _and blood, it smelled of drying blood staining everything, but none of them said this._ )

" _MOVE!_ " Aiden barked this time, but this time it wasn't at Lukas, whose claws were coming out, or Petra, whose sword was at the ready, or Gill or even Maya, but at the tiny human who had come along for a battle that they could not fight.

Jesse threw themselves out of the way in the nick of time, just as a piercing, vicious shriek of a roar sent the October Children staggering backwards from the sheer _force_ of it. Maya even fell over from it.

Reuben was squealing up a storm once their ears stopped ringing enough for them to hear it. They couldn't see the little pig, but he was trembling enough that they could feel it from where he was on their back in the backpack.

They peered from behind the rock they were crouching behind, trying to catch a glimpse of the creature as their friends-

Friends, _friends_ , when had that happened, when had these half-demons who were helping them in a task Jesse had agreed to because it was only fair that they help Romeo after staying in his home for a few days who had murdered an entire group and scared them and stayed in a tree with them become their friends?

The minute they hadn't left.

The minute they'd stayed.

That was when Jesse had stopped being afraid of them.

They tried to catch a glimpse of the creature as their friends scrambled to catch their balance, get back up, stay ready-

A black shadow _exploded_ out of the cave entrance, wheeling around their heads as reptilian, beating wings caused a wave of wind that very nearly bowled them all over in an instant- even Jesse; who was holding the rock and not even standing up in the first place.

The October Children all scattered, dissolving into shadow enough that they could all pelt sideways and avoid the black shadowy force that shot through where they had been standing before solidifying, having been split into a wide circle around the shadowy creature.

It slammed into the ground with enough force to send several rocks and pebbles flying through the air and dancing across the ground, still enough for the moment for Jesse to see a reptilian head with horns spiraling off the side of its skull, violet eyes flaring with some dangerous fury as gleaming black scales shone in the red-tinted sunlight, its reptilian, thin ( _and yet dangerously, crushingly heavy_ ) body almost undulating as it prepared to fight the half-demons standing before it.

And then the magic of it slammed into Jesse.

If the bandits had felt like a weight was pressing on Jesse, this felt like the entire sky's weight in Jell-O had been dropped onto them. They could still move, but it was with some difficulty to get started, and it was _heavy_. Jesse wasn't sure they could've jumped or leapt high into the air without immediately being dragged back down.

They knew this was just an illusion, of course- there wasn't any _actual_ weight on them at the moment. It was all just their sensitivity to magic speaking. They could have run around at their usual speed had they wanted to.

But it didn't stop Jesse from being forced onto their knees in that first moment when the weight of the creature's magic crushed them from their feet to the groundwith a gasp.

It stood still enough for a moment that Jesse had an idea of just how massively big it was. The dragon's head was almost three times the length of Jesse's _height_. Petra's sword looked like a needle in comparison to its huge, rippling bulk.

Jesse had seen this creature before in books, in storybooks, but not in real life, and not quite this reptilian, and angry, and huge, and _real_.

This wasn't quite as snakelike as Kaster and Bedivire, not quite as undulating and almost not as real ( _which was funny, if Jesse was in any mood to appreciate the humor, since Kaster and Bedivire were literally just iron doorhandles on Romeo's door and this was the real deal_ ).

But it was a close second.

And it was certainly much, much angrier about being disturbed.

Two large shapes began to shift off of the creature's back, unfurling almost like a rug being unrolled for the first time until the tips touched the clouds, two huge wings that blotted out the sky and the sun stretching until they cast shadows that threw the entire area into a darkness that was sinister and very, very deadly, casting a shadow that had to look something like out of some kind of horror movie.

The creature that the Hizelkian lords desired was a dragon.

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter should not have been this difficult to write... I finished writing this in Portugal! Why are we in Portugal? My dad likes photo opportunities. Anyway, this was a fun chapter to write. I'm excited for the next chapter. It's a huge fight scene, basically.**

 **Yep, Ender Dragon showed up!**

 **Reviews are my cookies. I got some cookies but would love more x3**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Toni42: Indeed she did. Sorry, Ivor, you... sorta got to Jesse too xD This is not as fluffy but hey, badass stuff I guess xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: That and then I would've had to spoil the Ender Dragon showing up xD / Oh, indeed. She refuses to acknowledge it though xD / Harper tries. So hard. xD / She is indeed. / The workshop's her room; she'd otherwise have to trek between her room and her work every day and she's kinda the type of person to... not want her work to be that far away xD / Hehe :3**

 **ThinMintE: Anyone would look cute as a koala, I think xD / Yeah, I definitely agree. / That's my middle name! Well, actually, no, my middle name is my Chinese name, but xD**

 **DarkbeastDend: I'm glad you liked the chapter! Here's the update :3**

 **That's all for now. See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	27. A Scream

The dragon screamed, another roar that caused Jesse to clap their hands over their ears, almost flinch away, hunker down, squeeze their eyes shut and block it out like it was just their adopted dad shouting at them, just block it out like it was a bad dream.

But they couldn't not watch.

Aiden's wrist flicked; the whip shot out, blades flickering out and gleaming in the snatches of sunlight that caught the blades, before he whirled them in a ring of flashing red light and hit the dragon on its flank in a screeching, metallic scream that left small marks on the scales.

It turned to snap at him, but he was already dashing forward and leaping over its huge snout, an inch from violet eyes- Petra drove her sword at the scales.

A movement like that would've sunk the blade into the dragon's flesh, up to the hilt, but the scales were too thick and well-layered and as it was it just caused Petra's sword to skid over obsidian black scales.

The dragon whipped around, snapping at her like a dog that's just received a bite and trying to retaliate, but Petra had flipped out of the way and Lukas was coming in with his claws, dealing heavy, hard blows to the dragon that sent sparks flying.

But it wasn't a dragon for nothing, and when he dove out of the way to avoid a heavy hit from its tail swinging up to hit him, tipped with spikes that glimmered as it flashed up and almost hit Gill on the way, the scales didn't even look scratched.

It rumbled, smoke leaking from its nostrils- when it opened its mouth this time, Jesse could see a hint of glowing violet as Gill charged, a glowing purple fireball building up in the dragon's throat, but they didn't have time to tell Gill that it was charging its fire, they had no time at all, so what came out was-

"FIRE!"

The entire group immediately reacted like any human who'd heard the scream- Gill lunged out of the way and flattened himself to the ground, Maya promptly leapt back several feet as if the fire was two inches away from her, Lukas suddenly had a sphere of glowing energy around him- it looked like some kind of shield- and Aiden and Petra were scurrying around to a safer area still near the fight.

Just in the nick of time; the entire area seemed to darken as a white jet of flame exploded out of the creature's mouth, turning faintly violet and tinting purple at the edges as it licked stone about two hundred feet away.

The air around it seemed to boil, and Jesse could feel the heat from where they were crouching behind a rock, to the point where every single breath that they could hold evaporated, and they found themselves inhaling pure heat.

The moment the flame began to dissipate, Maya was smacking it across the face with the staff.

Of course, the dragon being bigger than the staff by about seventy times, it didn't seem to do anything other than piss it off.

"Fall back! _Fall back!_ " Lukas was yelling to the others, flailing frantically with his claws, "this thing's scales are too hard to penetrate! We can't just go head-on at the thing!"

Jesse poked their head above the rock slightly. "This rock's been safe so far- never mind."

Despite the fact that they didn't sound at all worried about the whole matter, they were absolutely terrified out of their mind for about two seconds when the dragon's head snapped around to face them, inhaled a deep breath-

Jesse shot out from behind the rock and dove behind a somewhat larger one where Petra was already crouching. She grabbed them by the back of their shirt and pressed them to her chest in a hug, the sword held out defensively in case the dragon came leaping over the rock, flames engulfing the spot where Jesse had been crouching a moment before.

They decided not to tell her that they could feel every tremor that she was having, or the fact that her heart had sped up to the pace of a rabbit's.

(A stupidly fast speed indeed.)

"Uh, yeah, what the hell do we do about the fucking fire-and-death spitter here?!" Gill shouted over the dragon's fire, which left the stone red-hot, sizzling, and was just generally rather noisy.

"Well, instead of charging it like a bunch of idiots, why don't we try a different method? The lords wanted it alive, right?" Maya shouted back, although for once it wasn't just to antagonize Gill. "We could probably tranq it. We have enough supplies for that to work."

She raised a bottle that glowed and bubbled murky blue, the shade of a cloudy night sky, the tip of the bottle twisted in a way that looked like the liquid would spray if it so much as cracked on the floor.

Aiden peered out, then jerked back, just as the dragon's glowing, drilling eyes bored into the stone a few feet away, avoiding detection. "I can tranq it. You guys keep it distracted."

Gill nodded, raising his gun and gave a serious nod. "Distracted I can do."

"Wait, Gill- _Gill_ -" Maya swore and pressed the bottle into Aiden's hands, already beginning to rise from where Gill had shot up off the ground and raised the gun.

The bullet he fired pinged off of the skin between the dragon's eyes and probably didn't actually do anything, but it definitely got it pissed and focused on Gill as he full-out sprinted to the left, and that was really his whole goal.

Petra gave Jesse's hair a short ruffle and rose up from the ground, lunging forward and hammering two blows onto the dragon's head before sprinting the other direction, allowing Aiden to dart along behind her and get behind a rock without the dragon spotting the shadowy movement, instead opting to scream at the red-haired demon flailing her blade at it and yelling like a maniac and spin to face her.

Jesse could only watch as Lukas swiped his claws over the muzzle of the dragon, the creature screaming and trying to bite him- Maya cooked the back of his jacket with her staff and practically threw him sideways, the blonde half-demon flipping in midair, skidding, and darting to the side, getting the dragon to snarl ( _in frustration?_ ) and beat its tail on the ground in frustration.

"Thanks," he shouted back.

"Uh-huh," was her reply, before she whirled her staff above her head and sent it crashing onto the dragon's head.

They spotted the movement out of the corner of their eye- a tail, spikes tipping the end with a dagger-sharp point at the very end of the tail to boot, whipping around while Aiden was trying to sneak around the back of the dragon and tranquilize it.

They kept an eye on it for a moment, if only to make sure it wouldn't come whipping at them.

And then they saw it.

Aiden rose from the rocks, preparing to lift the potion and threw it at the dragon's head, a clear shot.

He didn't see the tail rising to whip in a vicious sidecut at him as it screamed in frustration at the other four half-demons, preparing to spin and lunge at Lukas, or Maya, or Gill, or Petra, but Jesse couldn't see any of the four and they could only see the tail beginning to fly heavily through the air in a deadly arc right at Aiden.

They only had the time to scream.

Aiden was not given that courtesy, nor the time to find out why.

The tail raked across his chest, instantly ripping his chest, his stomach open, spilling blood out of his chest like a broken water bottle, blood that soaked into his clothing rapidly, staining it a darker red than it had been before.

His eyes widened as he cried out, a choking gasp that caught in his lungs and didn't quite make its way out.

"AIDEN!" Jesse screamed, too far to do anything and too close to charge forward, for fear of being caught by the dragon.

Reuben squealed, his own attempt at crying out in fear and horror because Aiden's entire front was stained a dark muddy red and his fingers were shaking and the blood practically glowed purple in the light.

There was another scream.

Jesse didn't know who it came from.

The half-demon staggered a step backwards from the force of the blow in some dull, horrified attempt to not just topple to the ground, towards the mouth of the cave; his whip clattered to the floor from suddenly-slack fingers.

The potion bottle rolled out of his fingers, hitting the ground without even a crack.

The dragon's violet eyes darted backwards at the tiny sound, smoke rising from its nostrils.

With a screaming roar that made Lukas instinctively cringe away, the dragon spun and slammed the full weight of their tail into Aiden's chest once more, but the force sent him flying back into the darkness of the cave, disappearing from sight.

The reptilian dragon, body almost undulating like a snake's, whirled around in a wheeling motion as the dragon took off and dove after him into the cave.

" _No!_ "

Before Lukas or Maya or Gill or Petra could stop them, Jesse had sprinted forward towards the cave, the cool maw of it swallowing them up in darkness as they followed the purple glow of the dragon's eyes and its beating wings, ignoring the cry of " _Jesse!_ " that the four of them screamed after them.

And then they were running through the dark.

Please.

 _Please don't let them be too late._

* * *

 **A/N: Remember the good old days when I had Hybrid, and the chapters came out super fast because they were like 1000 words long?**

 **Yeah, I'm shortening the length of chapters. I'm hoping that'll help me get back into a pattern. If it does, great, if not, the chapters'll get longer again. Sorry! Please put up with my incredible slowness xD**

 **I am a car. Reviews are fuel. Thank you for putting more gasoline in.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **ThinMintE: Haha, yeah. / The dragon is scary though xD / They don't light that much up, but yeah, those are pretty useful. Imagine getting lost with a handful of those in your hands. / Here is the next update!**

 **Darkbeast Dend: This happened xD**

 **CrazyNinjagoFan1: It's a bit... short, but xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: He would be the type of person to 'forget' something just for the drama xD / Hehe xD / Yeah... you find out why much later on xD / It basically just has a crap-ton of power; any part of it would be enough to magically cleanse the area. / No, they do actually need it alive to figure out how to use it xD / Thank you!**

 **That's all for now. See you, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x. X. A.L. X.x**


	28. Red Light, Purple Light

Jesse sprinted down the narrow, long corridors of the cave, ignoring the uneven ground and the rocks in the way and the fact that there was already a stitch embedded in their chest, their breath catching as they kept running and stumbling and catching their balance after almost tumbling off of loose rocks.

Something bounced off the back of their legs, the area in front of them abruptly barely illuminating in a rosy glow for half a second before it was pitch dark again, except for the glowing purple eyes that darted through pillars of stone and vanished and reappeared far above.

They glanced over their shoulder.

Reuben was ducking in and out of their backpack, throwing the little redstone packets that had completely slipped their mind to the ground, leaving a clumsy, zigzag of a path-

And then the ground suddenly dropped out from under Jesse's foot and they were pitching forward and they cried out and curled into a ball to avoid hitting their head or breaking their neck or-

Their body crashed into some water, which managed to cushion the blow enough that crashing onto the side of their head didn't do anything, besides perhaps raise a bump on their head and make them grunt in pain.

It was quiet, except for Reuben giving a little squeal and then snuffling and tossing another redstone packet onto the ground behind them, just to mark that they'd been down there.

Jesse took inventory of their body, still half-floating in the water and a bit dazed from conking their head slightly on the bottom of this shallow pool of water.

Anything broken? Not that they could feel.

Anything bruised? Most probably everything.

Anything serious? No, they could move around just fine.

They were remarkably glad that the water was there.

Jesse rolled over in the pool of water and lifted their head, feeling their body drip beads of water that were probably absorbed by the darkness, so pitch that for a moment they thought they'd fallen through the world and had to feel rough stone under sore fingers and the clammy wetness soaking into their skin to confirm that they were still there.

Still there.

"Aiden?" Their voice was hushed as they called out, squinting into the darkness in an attempt to see him. "Are you there?"

At first, there was nothing except for the sound of their voice echoing in the cavern, the quiet gush of rushing water and dripping from somewhere above them into a pool of water.

Then there was a grunt- a weak, almost fragile sound. "J...?"

"Aiden!"

Jesse almost just decided to blunder forward and find him, but then realized the stupidity of that. What if they just dropped into another hole?

Jesse reached into the backpack, ignoring the wetness of the outside, and scooped up one of the packets. In a desperate motion, they crushed it in their fist, light seeping through their fist until they opened their hand, now dusted with red, to show their surroundings.

They'd been rather lucky, as apparently the small pool they'd landed in dropped off into a waterfall that gushed off into a dark hole that you couldn't see into after a few feet and they'd managed to land in the area that wasn't caught in a current. The bottom was littered with things- a few little gold trinkets and things in the corner that twinkled in the red light, what looked like straw, and another little pool of water a few feet of way.

Aiden was in the pool.

"Aiden!" Jesse hoisted themselves out of the water, feeling little streams of water come off their clothes, and stumbled to him, holding the little source of light closer.

Perhaps it was the fact that the little amount of light that they were clutching in their fist was red, bloodred, barely lighting anything at all, but the wounds looked bad. Jesse couldn't even see them under his jacket and shirt, nearly-black stains covering his front, changing the color of his shirt so that it went from red to almost black. Swirls of something ( _blood, blood, they knew it was blood_ ) filled the pool around him, gleaming red.

Maybe it was just the red light.

Maybe.

He scowled slightly at them. "What..." He winced, teeth gritting as he repressed it, eyes still fixed on Jesse. "Wha're you...?"

Jesse splashed through the pool and knelt, trying not to panic at the sight of dark, gleaming blood soaking him and staining his skin and ignoring his question hanging in the air and the water now soaking into their socks. "We gotta get you out of the water- I dunno how clean it is, and we don't want that to get infected, if we wanna keep you alive..."

They babbled, trying to hook their arms around him and haul him out of the pool of water without making too much contact with him.

He didn't like them much, after all.

"Okay, Aiden, this might-" They took ahold of him under his armpits with their arms and heaved.

Aiden made a guttural sound the second he lifted not two inches out of the pool, water streaming off of limp arms, face contorting in agony. Jesse almost immediately set him back down, sending a little tidal wave of water splashing out from where he was. In fact they almost dropped him.

"Fucking hell-" Aiden squeezed his eyes shut, teeth gritted. Tears reflexively streamed down his face from the pain. "What- what the _hell_ , Jesse, do- do you know-"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- are you-?" Jesse was frantically trying to figure out what to do with his horribly damaged body; they couldn't move him but he was losing blood at a pace that Jesse couldn't help but worry about.

"That- tha' hurt-" His eyes opened, red eye glaring at Jesse even though tears still gushed from his eyes and his teeth were clenched shut.

He broke off, voice trailing off into silence and surprise. His eyes had suddenly widened slightly, staring at Jesse, lips parted slightly as his breath froze in his lungs.

Well, that wasn't quite accurate.

His eyes were staring just behind Jesse.

Jesse knew what was behind them before they turned around.

Maybe it was because they could read the fear in Aiden's eyes, the way his choking breaths had caught in his chest and refused to come out.

Maybe it was because they could feel that sudden weight of magic, feel the heat of the smoke singing the back of their clothing, see the way the cave's darkness had begun to be illuminated in faint violet light, watch the reflection in Aiden's eyes.

Maybe they just had a feeling that something like this would happen.

But they turned around anyway.

The dragon stared them down, purple eyes blinking once, twice, staring into Jesse's eyes.

* * *

 **A/N: And so marks the beginning of shorter chapters**

 **To be fairly honest this might be better anyway; I tend to lose motivation on long chapters and shorter ones might keep me going better.**

 **But oooof, Jesse.**

 **I am a cookie. Reviews are chocolate chips. I am a chocolate chip cookie.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **ThinMintE: Big dragons are hard to fight, yeah. Plus the Ender Dragon isn't easily damaged or hit (partially due to crystals and nonsense but also dragon armor is a big oof). And he's not doing great but he's still alive, so that's good xD / That too! Honestly, my thought process was "redstone = red = red light", and I wasn't so smart about the disrupting night vision thing, but that's a good thing to have! / Thank you!**

 **Toni42: Hehehe xD / Well, also, if they DID get a good look at it, they ded xD / Magic sensitivity is generally like that. The heavier or stronger the magic, the 'heavier' it feels. It's a bit disorienting to be honest. / Yep, poor Aiden xD / hehehehe xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: Yes, hopefully xD / Nope. / Maya can be practical. She can also be something of a ditz sometimes, but then again so can everyone. / (smiles) / I was counting on that ;P**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Yep, that's not great xD / Thank you very much!**

 **Guest: Yep! xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	29. Protect

They couldn't move.

They couldn't move away, could only stare in a petrified daze of terror as the dragon's purple eyes blazed into them, smoke rising in curling swirls into the air and illuminated purple by the dragon's glowing eyes.

It stared. There was no movement.

None whatsoever.

Aiden was frozen too, staring back into the dragon's purple eyes, his own red one gleaming violet in the light.

It was like they were all statues.

The dragon snorted at last, another rising wisp of smoke curling out of its nostril as heat seeped into Jesse's skin, stole every ounce of moisture from their wet clothes. Reuben whined, burying into the backpack and trying to hide himself from sight.

One clawed foot _tap, tap, tapped_ on hard stone, metal on rock, as it eased forward, scales rustling- _rustling_ , like snakeskin on grass- as it shifted forward, closer.

There was a moment, a split second where Jesse considered which way to run.

Left or right, it didn't matter, it was solid stone and Jesse hadn't spotted any huge holes and there was still red light bleeding through their fist. There was no sure way to get out of this small pit, though, and it was so dark that the only light that Jesse could see were those terrifying purple eyes. But maybe if they got to the pool they'd landed in, they could-

And then Aiden grunted weakly behind them, reminding them of his presence, and their blood froze.

Aiden.

He couldn't move. Not without pain ripping through him and sending him back down into a pool of bloody water, his breath catching his chest.

They couldn't leave him.

Somehow, it didn't occur to them, despite his biting remarks and cold demeanor and the way he glared and sneered at them, despite the way he pushed them away and tried to ignore them and acted as though they were a nuisance ( _they were, they were, they were a nuisance to everyone_ )-

Somehow, despite that, it never occurred to them to leave him behind.

They slogged to their feet, staggering from the weight on their back, and planted themselves in front of Aiden, spreading heavy, wet arms to block him from sight, all of their tiny height and overly thin body and their tiny weight shaking and trembling and blocking Aiden's weak body from view the best they could.

"Wh-wha're you..." Aiden's breathing was raspy, and labored, and weak, but they didn't dare turn to look at him, staring instead into the dragon's glowing violet eyes, huge glowing things that were fixed upon the tiny human with a vessel creature on their back.

The eyes struck terror into their heart, making it speed up and making their knees quake in fear.

So they closed their eyes instead, still seeing the purple glow, still seeing the light through the darkness.

They braced themselves, arms spread apart, their fingers trembling and their eyes closed. They could still feel every slow puff of breath from the dragon, the heat and the magic so heavy that Jesse was almost driven to their knees as their skin tingled like it was burning, burning alive and leaving nothing but a pile of ashes.

Maybe the dragon wouldn't go after Aiden if they stayed like this.

Maybe it would tear them apart instead and leave him alone for the other October Children to find him.

Maybe.

Maybe not, but maybe it would.

They couldn't really protect him.

They couldn't do magic like Lukas and Maya, they couldn't run or fight or dodge like Gill or Petra, they couldn't even stare intimidatingly like Aiden could. Hell, they didn't even have anything resembling a _weapon_.

But they couldn't just leave him there, either.

Then a large, overly huge snout that was reminiscent of Kaster and Bedivire's, only less solid and metal, almost knocked them over straight into Aiden.

They opened their eyes.

The dragon was cautiously pressing its snout up against Jesse's tiny body, giving curious sniffs that were probably tiny for the dragon but almost sucked Jesse's clothes into its nostrils and knocked them over for Jesse, who wasn't over 100 pounds when soaking wet. Its violet eyes looked less furious, less rage-tinged and horrific and more curious. Gentle, almost.

Shakily, trying to breathe, they reached out with their fingers and rubbed the snout with their fingers.

Despite the heat and smell of the smoke, the scales on the dragon's nose were cool to the touch, almost like snakeskin.

The dragon stared at them, still cautiously sniffing Jesse.

Then a serpentine tongue poked out, in such a way that Jesse almost laughed at it, and it licked them, running the snakelike tongue up their body in an affectionate gesture.

Jesse sank to their knees, relief flooding them so much that they abruptly were unable to stand. The dragon huffed, smoke puffing into their face so roughly that tears were instantly drawn to their eyes, and gently nosed itself forward, wrapping its neck around Jesse almost protectively so that its scaly shoulder pressed up against Jesse's thin little body.

It was only when Aiden gasped ( _from pain or from fear or from both, Jesse couldn't tell_ ), and the dragon began to rumble like a thunderstorm forming in the distance, that Jesse remembered the danger they were in.

"No!"

Jesse hastily backed away from the dragon, situating themselves between it and Aiden again and blocking its vision of him.

"No, no, he's- he's okay. He's alright, please," Jesse said hastily, in the most soothing tone they could muster with a wavering voice, unsure if the dragon would know what they were saying and if they would have to leap in front of Aiden again.

To their surprise, it stopped and huffed at them, more smoke wafting into the air.

This huff sounded confused. Almost adorably quizzical.

"He's okay. He- he wasn't trying to be mean, when he hit you. He just didn't understand," Jesse stammered.

The one time they were able to mediate some kind of tense situation, and it was when one of the people was bleeding out in a shallow pool of water with claw marks gashing his front and the other was a dragon that was so big that it could've swallowed Jesse in one bite. Go figure.

The dragon considered this.

It apparently decided the explanation was acceptable, because it licked Jesse again, blinking its big purple eyes and momentarily plunging the cave back into darkness.

The human shakily breathed out again, rubbing the dragon's snout. It rubbed its head gently against Jesse's chest, making a pleasant sort of grumbling sound. "You just didn't like getting whacked with things, huh?" Jesse asked softly, running a hand over its snout again.

It snuffled, almost like Reuben, and nudged them with its snout again.

Well, this was better than the alternative. (Being roasted alive.)

Jesse didn't mind this.

And then Aiden grunted in pain, a little splash of water sounding behind Jesse, and they were reminded- with something cold dropping into the pit of their stomach- that he was still there, still hurt

( _dying_ )

\- and they had to do something.

"Damn, it's so dark..." Jesse knelt beside Aiden, his chest slowly heaving (and there might've been a bit of surprise on his face at the fact that Jesse had just said 'damn', but it was too dark to see) as he tried to breathe. "I wish it was lighter... maybe the trackers could work..."

( _And make the blood look worse, look like it was drowning Aiden, but there was no other source of light that they noticed._ )

The dragon made a sound that was almost distinctly _pleased_ , as if this was something it could do, before it tilted its head back.

A jet of purple fire spewed out of its mouth, Jesse squeaking in surprise as it shot into the air and Aiden flinching before gasping in pain, despite himself.

The fire's pure heat washed through the cavern, heating Jesse's clothes again to the point where they were actually kinda cozy. With the heat came magic- except this magic wasn't just heavy (though it was, to be sure), it was almost warm and cozy and almost kind of hugged Jesse before dancing into the air.

Bells.

It sounded like there were bells ringing, the sound filling the cavern, a nice tinkling sound that quickly became almost deafening with the acoustics of the cavern repeating the sound over and over until it was like some kind of giant bell tolling in a clock tower, and crystals- little tiny crystals that Jesse had not seen earlier, due to how damn dark the whole place was- sparked to life, glowing with violet and cyan and pink and yellow light.

The hole Jesse had fallen into was deep- and large, much larger than they'd initially thought, with enough room for the dragon to fit inside and probably comfortably rotate within it, wings extended.

Glowing crystals ended at the edge of the hole, leaving the far-above ceiling in almost pitch black darkness, but the glowing crystals lit the area much better than the little trackers Jesse had been leaving, or the one that was in their fist.

The dragon made a sort of croaking sound, looking down at Jesse and scooting onto its stomach, curling around them and Aiden almost protectively and looking at Jesse as if expecting praise.

Jesse blinked twice.

Then patted its snout carefully, still trying not to look slightly boggled by what they were sure had been a display of some kind of magic.

"... okay, that works..."

* * *

 **A/N: Isa, you're not the Beast Tamer Lord anymore. Give the title to Jesse. Go on, git.**

 **Well... a nice development! I mean Aiden's still not doing great but, uh xD**

 **Pssst. I have a few games I'm working on... Fata Morgana (known previously as Phantasmagoria, if you read Hybrid: Cinematic Mode ever), a game about dolls I'm co-writing with Toni42, aaaand this one that may or may not be a MCSM dating sim... feel free to check 'em out. I'll probably note the sites down soon.**

 **I am a pen. Reviews are my ink. I would like more, but thank you for putting more in. xP**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **LegendEmpress: I never said I was a _good_ chocolate-chip cookie xD Also in my defense, I was craving cookies at the time and that was the first analogy that came to mind. / Thank you!**

 **Toni42: Hehehe xD / Not as bad now, so that's good xD / Hehe, thanks, bear. / Noooo x**

 **TheAmberShadow: Hehehe, that'd be fun too. / I just changed my profile picture! I am thinking about making an official cover, but... eh, I'm lazy xD / True that! / Very good pig, yes. / No, that was a beautiful pun, thank you. I'm not a fan of "dry" humor anyway. / This xD**

 **ThinMintE: Jury's still on that xD / They might not need to bring the dragon down after all! / Healing magic or items are generally very hard to operate. Healing magic, while actually an essential spell, is also inherently hard as hell to perform or enchant an object with. Healing potions are easier (you just need glistering melon), but they also don't heal as much as healing magic. Just... something to keep in mind. / Thank you!**

 **Darkbeast Dend: I'm glad you liked it. :3**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	30. Stay Awake

Jesse fell to their knees next to Aiden. He was still bloody, but in the light that wasn't red but instead purple and blue and green and white and a million colors all at once, it somehow looked a little better- though Jesse could see that the damage to his stomach was anything but better than what it looked like before.

Still. This amount of light made it more handleable.

They looked up at Aiden anxiously, trying to make eye contact with him. "Hey, Aiden? Stay awake, okay?"

He scowled at them. "What, you think I can-" He winced. "- can take a nap through my stomach being on fire?"

"I dunno what you sleep through," Jesse told him honestly, beginning to rummage through their little green backpack to find the bandages. _Please don't let the bandages be wet, please don't let them have gotten wet, please, please._..

Thankfully, the bag, while a little wet, didn't actually soak through to the inside, so the bandages were intact and dry.

They hastily pulled the roll of bandages out and started to wrap them around Aiden's midriff, trying to keep their touch light so that they didn't press down on his wounds and make him wince.

From his hissing and winces, they weren't doing a great job. But it was at least keeping him relatively alert.

"I'm sorry," they told him as they looped it around and had to lean closer to him so that they didn't fumble the bandages and drop it in the pool of water and ended up prodding him, which made him clench his eyes shut and hiss in pain.

After a few minutes, they had to wrap the bandages a bit more tightly, which made Aiden gasp and suck in a short breath, the half-demon trying to stay still and avoid jostling his wounds even more. Jesse was almost certain they could see his intestines.

They managed, through some gargantuan effort, not to throw up on Aiden.

"I'm sorry," they repeated.

Aiden was watching them through pained red eyes, teeth gritted so tightly that at one point when Jesse got closer to him, they could hear his ragged breathing and his teeth squeaking from where they were clenched together.

They gave the bandages another weak tug, to keep the blood from leaking out, but they weren't a medical professional and they ruefully noticed that the bandages were already staining red, soaking dark red like a sponge.

Aiden actually cried out weakly this time, instantly clamping his jaw shut to avoid making another sound.

"I'm sorry!"

"Quit apologizing, for Pete's sake!" he snapped back, "just finish wrapping the-"

Jesse tugged the bandage around, and he bit back a rather violent swear, tears involuntarily streaming down his face. "God."

"Do you have a God here?" They looked up at him. Keep him talking.

 _Keep him talking because otherwise Aiden will fall asleep, he will fall into unconsciousness, and Jesse didn't know if they would be able to ever wake him up again._

"We're demons. Do you _think_ we have God here?" Aiden grimaced, trying not to continue crying.

His breathing was still ragged, but at least the acidity in his voice towards Jesse hadn't faded.

They'd never thought they'd be so glad to hear someone sniping at them.

"Closest thing we've got is the lords, but even then they're more like human kings than anything else." He shifted, keeping a wary eye on the dragon.

The dragon had its head raised above the water, keeping purple, reptilian eyes fixed on Aiden. It was wrapped around Jesse, otherwise.

Jesse got the feeling it wasn't really fond of him.

Reuben snuffled, doing his best to help with not falling into the pool of water that Jesse was sitting in. They were getting a little chilly, actually.

Hopefully that would help keep Aiden present.

"I got that feeling, yeah... what's the favorite flower in your garden? You've got a lot," they asked, finishing up the bandage and quickly fixing it so that it wouldn't slip loose with a pin or two. It was already starting to soak through with blood.

Despite the scowl on Aiden's face, he did actually seem to consider the question for a few moments, through the daze of pain.

After a few minutes, long enough that Jesse actually had to poke him and make him swat them off with a weak grumble, he finally spoke again. "Hm... I guess blood flowers."

"Why blood flowers?"

He scowled at them as they tried to figure out what you did when someone's stomach was practically shredded open. It's not like they could just Google the answer. "Because I like them."

"Okay, but why?"

He huffed, wincing slightly as the exhale apparently caused his stomach to twinge in pain. His red eyes were glazed over with agony, if the way his face was tight despite the faint scowl on it was any indication. "They can actually be a good blood replenisher if you eat them- some magic thing."

"Then I sure wish we had some here," Jesse mumbled, trying to smile past the worried little knot in their chest.

Aiden might've actually smiled at that, but before they could double-check or even ask he was grimacing in pain again, eyes a little dull from pain. "They-"

He winced again. "They also smell like... they smell like... like ink on paper."

"You like that smell?" Jesse asked, putting their palm against his chest and trying to feel for a heartbeat. There wasn't one, and they almost panicked before remembering that he actually didn't have his heart, so it made sense that he wouldn't have a heartbeat. His chest was rising and falling, at least.

Just not enough.

"Ye... yeah." His ragged breathing was faint, shallow; it sounded like any second it could stop and then Jesse wouldn't be sitting with Aiden anymore, they would be sitting with a corpse on the floor sitting in a pool of water with bloodstained bandages and dead eyes. "L... Lukas writes sometimes."

Jesse filed that note away mentally. It made sense. He did seem like the kind of person to enjoy writing, honestly. "Yeah?"

"Ye... yeah..." Aiden trailed off, and Jesse looked up at him to see that his eyes had fluttered mostly shut, a hint of his red iris peering out from under his eyelid.

"Aiden?" They touched his shoulder and gave him a little shake, trying to keep him alert.

They expected him to scowl at them and open his eyes (well, eye, he was wearing an eyepatch) and scowl at them and ask them 'what?' in the sharpest voice he could use- which he seemed to like reserving just for Jesse, but honestly right now they'd rather hear that than watch him fade away.

What they did not expect was for him to loll slightly, head dropping so that his chin was resting against his chest. His eyes were still half-closed, dull with pain and barely conscious.

"Aiden?" Jesse shook him, panic welling up in them like tears in someone's eyes. "Aiden!"

His head lolled again, lips parted slightly. The bandages were soaked through already, dark red in the light, and Jesse desperately pressed their face to his chest to test his breathing. His chest barely rose and fell, hiccuping and trembling with each shallow, fragile inhale.

Dying.

He was dying.

And Jesse was doing _nothing_.

They _could_ do nothing, it wasn't like this was something they could fix, but god, they wished they could, because they didn't want Aiden to _die_.

Sure, he snapped at them and glared at them and he didn't want them there, but he was Lukas and Maya and Gill and heck, Petra's friend, he had given his heart away to get some wish that Jesse didn't know-

They couldn't just let him die.

But here he was.

And there they were.

Absolutely useless.

"Jesse?"

Jesse's head snapped up, searching Aiden's unconscious face, but his eyes were still half-shut and dazed with pain, and the voice hadn't been his anyway, and it had been farther away- farther _above_ them, actually, distant and echoing in the expansive, lit cavern.

But it was familiar.

Jesse tilted their head back, searching the cavern for the source of the voice, and not one minute later, they found it, teetering on the brink of the light of the cavern and the darkness of the caves beyond it.

Relief seeped into them, because now things would be okay, now maybe Aiden would be okay and he wouldn't just die on them.

Maybe, just _maybe_ , Aiden would be alright.

"Lukas!"

* * *

 **A/N: Oof. Nope. Aiden's not doing great.**

 **Sorry the chapters are shorter now. It is making it easier for me to write, though.**

 **I am a phone. Reviews are my battery. Thank you for recharging me.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **TheAmberShadow: Nah, Bendy wouldn't come after me. I haven't completed the Ink Machine yet. / Of course, I wouldn't leave you _high and dry_ after such a nice pun. / Well, he's not there yet xD / me, but I wrote it xD**

 **CrazyNinjagoFan1: Hehe, yeah. Jesse's good at that. / Indeed she has!**

 **ThinMintE: It can be harder than shown here, though xD / The crystals are... well, actually, those show up in a later chapter, so we'll talk about it then xD / Well xD**

 **LegendEmpress: Hehe, that's good xD / Aw, thank you. / Ye! / Apparently xD**

 **MixedUpSoul5588: Basically Jesse's general aura is positive good vibes xD / Thank you!**

 **Guest: I'm really glad you enjoy it! I liked leaving them up to the reader to decide; they can be a girl, a guy, or enby. It's fun writing the Ocelots!**

 **Guest: It's up to the reader; since all of the Jesses have dark hair.**

 **Guest: Is that a Black Butler thing? I didn't know xD**

 **Guest: Indeed xD**

 **LemonsAndMelons: Interesting theory xD**

 **Darkbeast Dend: No, they're just kinda like those minerals you see in cave walls. The End Crystals are... elsewhere xD**

 **Guest: I'm glad I was able to achieve this! xD**

 **Guest: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy it!**

 **Guest: Hehe, no, it's accurate xD**

 **Guest: It is a pretty creepy incubus, yes xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	31. A Light at the End of the Tunnel

Lukas peered carefully over the edge, a relieved smile ticking over his features. Or, at least, Jesse felt like that was the expression he gave them; they were too far below him to really make out anything except his blob of yellow hair. "You're okay!"

"Yeah!" Jesse waved up at him frantically, feeling a relieved smile creep over their lips. "Was the trail helpful?"

Lukas glanced over his shoulder, the little blonde blob shifting to look. "Yeah, actually. Right up until this entire thing lit up like a carnival at night."

"I mean, that was helpful too," Gill said, his voice carrying a little less effectively- Jesse got the feeling he wasn't shouting down much.

"Dragon's okay!" they shouted up to the group, pointing at it. They didn't really want to have them attack the dragon in such a claustrophobic space- the dragon, while fond of Jesse, would probably not have very good control of its limbs in such an enclosed space.

A little blob of red hair appeared as well, and Petra's familiar voice filtered down to them. "You sure?"

As if to prove Jesse's point, the dragon licked their cheek and grumbled like a car engine revving to life, which sounded weirdly like some kind of purr.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"Sounds good to me," Maya replied after a pause.

Lukas got down first, his shadow form blurring and then solidifying into the blonde half-demon, apology creasing his brow. "I'm so sorry it took such a long time, you just took off running, and then Gill wanted to get Reginald but Maya didn't think it was a good idea so they just started arguing, and by the time it occurred to us we should come find you-"

Maybe if the situation hadn't been so dire, Jesse would've been glad to listen to the apology, glad to smile and nod and tell him that it was okay (because it _was_ , he had still come for them, hadn't he, all of them had come for a little tiny human who was slowing them up and causing them trouble and they were _here_ ), but things _were_ so dire, and Aiden was still unconscious ( _dead? No, he wasn't dead, he was still breathing, but he was so close to it_ ), so they just blurted "Aiden" and pointed at him and that cut off the apology.

Lukas sucked in a breath, his brow creasing. Jesse couldn't see his eyes past the red satin blindfold, but they would've been willing to bet that they were fairly glowing with worry. "Oh man..."

Maya blurred into view next to Lukas. Instantly her own face almost crumpled into a wince, her lips pressing together gently. "Oh gosh... I'm not sure..."

She bent down and rested her hand on Aiden's face, trying to support it more. Her lips twisted as his head lolled slightly.

"What... what do you mean you're not sure? You guys know magic, right?" Jesse directed this to Lukas and Maya, both of whom looked uncomfortable. Maya almost looked like she was going to cry, which made something cold and tight twist around Jesse's heart. "You can use a healing spell! Ivor said that-"

"This kind of damage? Jess, this isn't just a normal set of cuts. It's... it's like..." Maya took in a shaky breath, pressing her hand to Aiden's shoulder.

His head lolled in reply.

"It's magic. There's magic tinging the injuries. It's not just- it's not just some cuts, or- or like a deep gash, that- that we can fix, even if we have to just use a couple of spells over and over," Maya said shakily. "I think I see why- why Isa, and Mevia, and Harper wan- wanted the dragon. It's literally magic itself- I don't know _how_ , but that's some _serious_ power we're packing."

Jesse looked at the dragon, as if to confirm that.

It licked Jesse again, rubbing its giant head against their chest gently.

"That kind of damage can't just be fixed with a simple healing spell. But..." Lukas and Maya shared a look, one that made Jesse's heart drop like a stone into the pit of their stomach.

It was the kind of look that was uncertain. The kind of look that was desperate, almost.

The kind of look that meant they weren't sure if they'd be able to save Aiden.

Lukas finally, wordlessly, pressed his hand to Aiden's torso, barely touching the bandage, as if scared to hurt Aiden. He murmured the words in a shaking voice, golden rings spiraling to life and flickering as each word clicked into place.

Finally, his fingers contracted, a blossom of golden light leaking through the tightly wrapped bandages as the rings spiraled down to surround his hand.

Abruptly, dark tendrils of magic writhed, the almost comically tiny amount of golden light getting crushed out by the magic before shrinking back into the bandages, staining them darker than they'd been before- or perhaps Jesse was imagining it.

He tried again, and again, and Maya joined in, keeping her hand firmly pressed to Aiden's shoulder, but each time the light was squashed, stomped out, the dark magic refusing to let any of the light stay long enough to fix Aiden.

The dragon gave an apologetic huff, rubbing its face next to Jesse.

Jesse heaved out the magic book and fumbled through the pages, so frantically that they probably almost got a paper cut.

Heck, they probably _did_ get a paper cut, but it didn't matter- they fumbled through the pages frenetically before finding a spell that was apparently a high-level healing spell and offering it to Lukas.

Lukas winced the second he saw it. "... um... I don't know if we can perform that one."

"Why?"

He tapped the book. "Remember how I said our light affinity isn't really high? Like our affinity for light magic? We're not good at it."

"Yeah..." Jesse looked at the spell, heart sinking. "Don't tell me... does it involve light magic?"

"Yeah. It's basically a purification and a healing spell all in one, adding about a billion levels to basic healing spells, which don't necessarily require a high affinity for light magic," Lukas said, his voice somehow steady despite the fact that he looked like he might cry. "Even if Maya and I were to try... it probably wouldn't work."

Jesse blinked, feeling heat rise up behind their eyes.

It felt like tears.

"But..."

"Heck, if any of us low-light-affinity people try the spell, there's a chance the spell will backfire or do something wrong." Maya shook her head, twisting her fingers together to stop them from shaking. "I'm not risking that on someone who's dying."

Dying.

Aiden was dying.

And it was perhaps the fact that Jesse could practically feel the life leaking out of him, or perhaps the fact that he was just dying ( _dead_ ), and the fact that Gill looked grimmer than they'd seen him before and Petra's fingers were at her mouth, almost as if she was going to bite her nails down to the stubs, that they said what they said next.

"Then I'll try."

* * *

 **A/N: Not sure that'll work, but heck, Jess, go ahead and try xD**

 **I am coffee. Reviews are my honey. (I put honey in my coffee; fight me). Thank you for making me sweeter.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **ThinMintE: That's fair. I'm okay with it as long as the people fighting are on the same level- like two masters fighting each other, or two noobs fighting each other. Or unless one of the people fighting are teaching them. / Well, plant magic does exist in Cosmos, but it's pretty rare xD / Yep! / Thank you! :3**

 **Toni42: Hopefully is the operative word here xD / They trust Jesse when they say it's fine; plus the dragon's just sitting and cuddling Jesse, so... clearly it's a dangerous beast xD / Thank x3**

 **LegendEmpress: Pft, that would be impressive. Imagine Jesse had a mini Ender-Dragon and Soren has a minor heart attack when he sees it xD / He can't hear you. He's unconscious xD / Ye xP / Eh, he's there at least xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: Of course, I don't speak _dry_ ly to people. / All of the half demons with the exception of Petra have at least one eye covered; this includes Aiden, Maya, and Gill. / They tried xD / Hehe, yeah, honestly xD / Dragon's fine as long as Jesse's there, apparently xD**

 **Guest: That's precisely why I included it! xD Honestly, blood flowers are called blood flowers just because they're good blood replenishers. Cosmos flowers are bizarre xD / Aaah, thanks xD and Jesse's definitely a sweetheart. / Jesse's generally like that, yeah. / Yep! / I'm glad you think it's fast! It's mostly 'cause the chapters got shorter xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	32. Last-Ditch Effort

"What?" Lukas's head jerked up in surprise, but Jesse was already fumbling to put the book down in a way that they could see it.

"I can find the spell- I can try it!" They were babbling, they knew they were, but none of them cut Jesse off, just looked at Jesse hopelessly, because there was no way they'd be able to do anything.

Gill almost moved to stop them, but Maya pushed him away from the tiny human, murmuring words that Jesse could only snatch at and catch a few separate words.

Can't hurt.

Human.

Can't do magic.

Won't hurt.

Jesse pressed their hands to the wound, trying not to press too hard. Not that it mattered, Aiden was still and silent and his lips were parted, and Jesse got the feeling they could've slapped him full across the face and nothing would've happened.

They couldn't let him die.

They _would_ not let him die.

Jesse's eyes fixated on the pages of the book, looking at the healing spell that Lukas had pointed out.

It was _long_. At least twenty words in it, and you couldn't lose concentration at all or you had to start the spell over and you were drained of energy besides- if it even worked. Jesse could see why Lukas was a little reluctant about performing the spell, just for the sake of the length of the words.

Maya and Gill gave each other this hopeless sort of look, for once not sniping at each other, because the likelihood that this would do _anything_ was so slim and nonexistent that there was no hope at all.

They took a deep breath, refusing to tear their eyes from the words.

" _Sana_ ," they said, in a wavery little voice.

Something flickered around them.

Petra sucked in a breath, but Jesse refused to remove their eyes from the book or look up or even blink unless they had to. " _Medeor_ ," they said, trying to steady their voice.

Another flicker.

" _Percuro_ , _consan_ , _integro, comprimo, confervo, auxilia, saudavel..._ "

With each word, Jesse's voice grew a little stronger, their eyes fixated on the words of the spell as their eyes travelled along the page, marking each one as done and then moving to the next. They picked up the pace, falling into a rhythm that was almost pleasing in a sense. Comforting, really.

If they had been able to see themselves, or even look up from the spellbook, they would've seen Lukas's slack jaw, the way Maya's eyes were almost bugging out of her head, Petra's stunned look, Gill's silent, open-mouthed stare, and they would've known exactly why.

There were dozens of concentric golden rings surrounding their entire body, illuminating the entire base of the cavern gold instead of purple and green and white and blue and red from the crystals, every word they were speaking clicking into place and every following word already beginning to click into place beneath it- almost like when Lukas had summoned the horse, a few days ago ( _days_ , days _, it had only been a matter of days_ ).

Except when he had summoned the horse, the concentric circles of magic had not gleamed iridescent in the light, and the golden circles had not washed everything in golden light, glowing with an almost radioactive heat.

"... _heilbrigt, enempilo, nirogi_ ," they finished, the last word coming out firm and strong- a bit of a difference from the wavery words they'd started with.

You know, just a little bit.

The words around them quivered, then whirled about in the air, unfurling into a sort of coiled strand of magic, words and light that Jesse couldn't make out before it had zipped- fairly _shot_ out of the air- down into Jesse's body, their veins immediately lighting green and gold like sunlight in a forest canopy, caught in the leaves and glowing colors.

And then it shot into Aiden's torso, leaking out of Jesse's fingers and instead glowing from the bloodstained bandages, light shooting through them and sending wisps of green and gold magic spiraling everywhere.

A few little dark wisps flickered to life, squirming and thrashing and trying to smother the light, but then still more light poured through, vaporizing the dark wisps, and maybe Jesse could've described it if they'd watched it for longer but their vision was growing blurry and dark at the edges despite the almost blinding light, the world swaying slowly around them.

Then they found themselves falling, everything darkening so that they were enveloped in some kind of quiet darkness, sounds of the startled half-demons around them and the dragon snorting and Reuben's squeals dampening until it disappeared into silence.

Jesse hoped that they had helped in some way.

* * *

Lukas caught Jesse's suddenly-limp form before they could collapse right on top of an unconscious Aiden, tugging them back so that they were almost curled- like a baby or a little kid- in his lap, eyes shut as the light dancing on Aiden's torso sucked itself into his damaged chest, leaving the area looking suddenly more empty, without the abundance of gold and green light.

His jaw was still dropped open as he stared at Aiden, whose face somehow seemed less pained in his unconscious state, then down at Jesse, who was asleep ( _unconscious_ ) and curled up in his grip.

The dragon grumbled over his shoulder, blinking huge purple eyes down at Jesse's limp little form, before using its clawed hands to gently tug Jesse away from Lukas (he almost tightened his grip instinctively but let them go after a moment) and nestle them against its scaly side, cradling Jesse like some kind of baby.

After a moment of silence, he tugged down Aiden's blood-soaked bandages, carefully peeled them away- with how drenched they were, they should be changed anyway.

He found nothing except three faint marks where the injuries had been, almost as if they'd never really happened and they'd imagined the way Aiden's chest and torso and stomach had been ripped open like some kind of plastic bag. Besides the blood smeared on his skin, there was no sign that it had even happened.

Slowly, he raised his eyes to stare at Maya, Gill, Petra. Their looks of shock mirrored his own, even if his was lesser so due to the blindfold covering his eyes, but if he hadn't had that covering his eyes he would've had eyes that were just as wide as all of theirs.

After a long, long moment of silence and the dragon nuzzling Jesse's limp form and Reuben squealing as he poked at Jesse and Aiden's now-steady breathing, his lips finally formed the appropriate words that summed up everything he was thinking, the maelstrom of thoughts and words and ideas whirling in his head at that display.

"What the fuck just happened?"

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter happened to be done pretty quick so... here you go, I guess, two updates xD**

 **No replies because I doubt anyone finished the chapter that quick xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	33. Thoughts

Aiden woke up.

He hadn't realized he'd even drifted off until he was awake again, staring groggily up at the lit cave, crystals glowing multicolor and washing the cavern in light that looked almost sickeningly pastel, and he probably would've scowled except the pastel meant that he was awake _(and thus alive_ ), so screw it, he'd stare at the pastel all day.

Lukas's head appeared in his field of vision, a relieved smile tugging at his lips. "Oh, good. You're awake."

Aiden sat up, rubbing his eyes and groaning quietly. He actually didn't feel that bad about it- no flare of pain in his midriff when he sat. Maybe his injuries were numb, but somehow he didn't think that was it.

"I'm just as surprised as you," he muttered, trying not to feel sore and surprisingly succeeding. "I thought I was dead."

"Yeah, you and Jesse and all the rest of us," Lukas replied, halfheartedly punching him on the shoulder. "Next time you're planning on taking a nap, let us know, okay?"

"Fuck you," Aiden replied with no venom, trying to recall what had happened.

His ribs had been on fire. He'd been trying not to look at his stomach because his guts looked as though they would spill out of him if he stood up.

Jesse had been talking to him when he passed out.

His eyes scanned the cavern, finding Maya resting against a wall and arguing with Gill, Petra leaning up against the dragon, which was lying down, Reuben curled up in a little pink ball.

There was no sign of the little human.

Not that _he_ personally cared that much, but if they'd lost Jesse ( _or if they'd died_ ), he was pretty sure Romeo was going to give them an earful.

"Uh... where's Jesse?"

Lukas pointed at the dragon.

Aiden took a moment to figure out what he meant by that- surely he didn't mean the dragon had _eaten_ them or something, or that Jesse had turned _into_ the dragon, but then he spotted a little fuzzy black jacket that didn't match the glossy, almost iridescent scales of the dragon.

The dragon was curled around Jesse, periodically licking them as if to groom them or wake them up. Reuben was also curled up on Jesse's chest, rising and falling with every quiet, even breath. Petra was awkwardly resting against the dragon and periodically checking on Jesse, which the dragon seemed to be barely tolerating.

If the large violet eyes periodically flicking backwards to stare at Petra and then back down at Jesse were any indication.

Aiden stared at the dragon basically treating Jesse like it was its (very tiny) baby, Jesse still and quiet and silent and looking for all intents and purposes like they were fast asleep, then looked back to Lukas.

"Uh... they're passed out with a dragon."

He said this in the manner of someone perhaps casually remarking about the weather, except with an undertone of " _what the hell, Lukas, this is_ not normal".

Lukas sat back on his haunches, giving Aiden a weak smile. "Yeah, well, I guess that's what happens when you use the, uh, most literally advanced healing spell in the book to heal someone."

Aiden stared at Lukas.

Stared at him a little more.

"... _what_."

Lukas ran his hand through his blonde hair, rumpling it up slightly as he gave a slightly nervous chuckle. "Yeah."

Aiden stared at Lukas, expecting- what _was_ he expecting? For Lukas to randomly grin and punch him on the shoulder and tell him "haha, sucker!" or for someone to yell at Lukas for screwing around? Lukas wasn't that kind of person.

"... you're serious."

At Lukas's nod, he looked back at Jesse. The dragon was currently licking their still face with a thin, reptilian tongue, rubbing its nose against their still body.

Well, _thin_ was relative, it was probably the width of Aiden's arm, but compared to the rest of the dragon it was tiny.

"... humans... can't... use magic."

Or, at least, he'd never heard of any instance where a human was able to use magic.

"Tell that to Jesse," Lukas muttered. "Maya's thinking maybe the crystals or the dragon's presence or both boosted it enough that they _could_ do magic, but..."

Aiden was still staring at Jesse, but he knew that hesitant _but_ , trailing off into silence, was the preamble to something that would knock that theory to pieces. "But what?"

Lukas shrugged helplessly. "I dunno- yes, the dragon being _literal_ magic does help boost the user's ability to use magic- as long as the dragon _likes_ them, which is definitely true for Jess, and the crystals too, but... the most _powerful_ healing spell in the book?"

He shook his head. "For that, I'd say it'd have to be some kind of magic affinity. Which Jesse shouldn't have, since they're just a human."

Aiden could feel his lips turn down in a frown as he considered that.

"Hey, why were they using the most powerful healing spell in the book, anyway?" he abruptly asked, the question just now occurring to him. "Magic isn't a toy- you didn't warn them that they'd probably pass out?"

The blonde half-demon stared at him with what was probably the most unimpressed look in the whole world, and then slapped his hand to his forehead. "Oh my god, Aiden."

"What?"

"They did it to heal _you,_ " Lukas mumbled past his hand, a little muffled.

"What?"

Lukas glanced up at Aiden (well, with the blindfold it was hard to tell, but he thought that Lukas did) again. "Maya and I couldn't do anything to fix you." He gestured with his head at the little human curled against the dragon's scaly body. "They... they somehow managed it."

Aiden looked down at himself, running his fingers over his blood-smeared stomach. Despite his fingers coming away a little smeared and red, he felt nothing but smooth skin.

"Holy hell."

"I know, right?" Lukas chuckled and gave an almost admiring shake of his head. "That human's just full of surprises, huh."

Aiden stayed quiet, absently feeling his healed midriff and feeling a distinct lack of pain.

He didn't know if he liked the thoughts spiraling in his head-

 _(They had saved him)_

\- and so he did not think them.

* * *

 **A/N: Aiden, you're up! How do you feel? Surprisingly not horrible! I'll take it xD**

 **FNAF VR has been fun to watch, especially with Jack screaming at the animatronics xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **ThinMintE: It would indeed xD / Heh, yeah, I think Jess did a nice job xD / Thanks!**

 **Toni42: Hehehehe xD / That's honestly pretty accurate actually xD / N'aw xD / Heheeeee, thanks, now I wanna draw it too xD / He would, honestly xD**

 **LegendEmpress: Whoops. Yeah, that'd do it xD / Haha, thanks. It was just amusing to think of.**

 **TheAmberShadow: I don't think you missed too much xD / I don't mind, because you _sea_ , I'm sure there's just an _ocean_ of puns for you to find. / Well, it also doesn't particularly adore Aiden xD / Hehe, thank you xD / Jesse has a magical resistance and magical sensitivity, but being resistant to combat-like magic or sensitive to magic doesn't correlate to magical affinity, though it can be an indicator. **

**Guest: Lol, big mood. I've done it too, just not recently.**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Jesse's enby, not female. Glad you enjoyed it, though.**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	34. Peace and Quiet

Jesse blinked sleepily, still feeling a little drained from the magic.

Other than that, though, they didn't actually mind it too much.

The dragon became a little overly excited upon seeing Jesse's eyes open and proceeded to start licking them like a very happy dog.

"Ack. Ah." Jesse halfheartedly flailed slightly and pushed the dragon away enough that they could sit up, the dragon rubbing its nose on Jesse's chest happily. Reuben squealed, butting his head into their stomach happily and rubbing up against their tummy.

Jesse hummed happily, rubbing both of them. "Hi, guys."

"Jesse." Petra scooted around to face them, relief glinting in her red eyes, even if it barely showed on her face. "How're you feeling?"

"Sleepy."

Gill chuckled and came over, relief in his own eye. "If that's the only thing that's wrong, you're good." He jerked his head over at Maya, who'd picked herself from where she was leaning on the wall and was approaching. "She was stressing out about you."

"Yeah, you asshole, since they _passed out_ ," Maya replied, smacking Gill across the back of the head sharply, but there was a little less acidity in her voice than usual.

She crouched next to Jesse and ruffled their hair, making them squeal and giggle a little, trying to swat her off. "You're looking pretty good. Next time you do something like that, let us know, okay?"

"There's not gonna be a next time. That was intense." Petra patted Jesse on the back, scooting closer to them and giving them a squeeze.

They leaned into her slightly, blinking only a little blearily. "Really?"

"Yes, really. You gave us a bit of a scare." Petra poked them in the forehead, making them squirm and faintly bat her away. She grinned and started poking them more, as if trying to gently tickle them.

"Ahhh, nooo..." Jesse giggled and went to hide in the crook of the dragon's neck, the dragon giving a pleased sort of purring sound, like a giant cat. Maya laughed and went to follow them- then paused, smile fading slightly.

Jesse only had to look up to see why. Aiden had apparently come over to where the dragon was resting its head on the stone floor and was now standing over them, staring down at the little human with a look that Jesse couldn't really figure out- partially because they really didn't know him that well, but it was also just one of those hard-to-read looks.

"Aiden." Jesse managed a weak little smile up at him, although they'd started twisting their fingers anxiously. The dragon rumbled, purple iris sliding around to stare at Aiden carefully.

He was okay.

That was more than they could ask for, really.

"Are you feeling okay?"

He stared down at them impassively. Which, you know, wasn't terrifying to them in the least.

His fingers absently rubbed where the wounds should've been, skin still stained red from the blood despite the fact it looked as though he'd tried to scrub it off. Jesse could see the white marks where the gashes had been.

So it _had_ worked.

They were glad.

"... yeah."

Then:

"Thanks."

He turned away before they could tell him 'you're welcome' out of courtesy and went to gather some of the supplies. Jesse felt a little marble of relief in their chest even as he walked away, the dragon curling around Jesse somewhat protectively as he turned their back to them.

"Hey, but I think Isa should give up her title. The dragon really likes you," Gill said at length, grinning at Jesse and deciding to move past the very awkward silence that had just taken place.

"Well, Jesse's not a _lord,_ " Maya pointed out.

Petra grinned, ruffling Jesse's hair and messing it up. "I 'unno, I think they'd make a good one."

"Noooo..."

"Oh yeah, they would, wouldn't they. All hail Jesse!" Gill plucked Jesse up off the ground with ease (the dragon watched a bit warily) and held them up like they were Simba in the Lion King or something, grinning.

Maya snorted and curtsied. "Excuse my rudeness, Lord Jesse," she said, joining in on the teasing.

"Definitely." Petra bowed as well, her grin so wide that it was practically ear-to-ear.

Jesse squirmed, giggling and trying to hide their very red face and trying to wiggle out of Gill's grip simultaneously. "Nooooo!"

They were so busy trying to escape the teasing that they didn't see the look Aiden sent in their direction.

* * *

Getting back to Sky City took a much shorter time since the dragon flew them back.

Well, more accurately, Jesse asked the dragon and it happily let Jesse climb onto their back, and reluctantly let the others on when Jesse asked, but it did take a much shorter time.

"Holy shit. You actually did it."

Isa smacked Mevia on the back of the head, making the blue-haired lord scowl at her faintly.

"Children," Harper chided, gesturing at Jesse, but she was still smiling faintly.

Mevia nodded, looking at the large dragon currently rubbing its nose on Jesse's back and almost fussing over their clothes. Jesse halfheartedly swatted at the dragon, rubbing its nose when it rumbled and butted its head into their hand. "And amazingly, you did actually bring it back alive."

Lukas chuckled at that, gesturing at Jesse, who was now sighing and fixing their shirt so that it was straighter. "Well, thank them for that."

"I didn't really do much... or anything..."

Aiden raised his eyebrow at that, but Isa was already speaking. "Well, we must thank you, then, Jesse. This creature's power will be of great aid to hopefully fixing the radioactivity in Sky City."

"Aid," Harper murmured.

"Oh, yeah. We'll help with your request as well," Mevia added, glancing at the other October Children. (Isa subtly kicked her for the informality.)

Lukas bowed slightly but courteously, straightening up a minute later. "Thank you, Mevia. Isa. Harper. It's much appreciated."

The dragon grumbled right around then, licking Jesse's face and evidently pleased that their shirt was no longer crooked.

"Can you guys please not hurt it?" Jesse asked earnestly, staring up at the three lords.

Harper, Mevia, and Isa instantly glanced at each other, red-rimmed irises flicking so that they were all staring at each other, thoughts that they weren't certain about whose belonged to who bouncing between them.

 _Can we promise something like that?_

 _I don't know. Maybe we can._

 _But that limits the amount of research we can have done._ _Or do._

 _Yes, but considering they're the one who brought us the dragon, I think they have a right to perhaps decide if we can do anything to it or not._

 _Besides, it may end up being dangerous without Jesse there to keep it in check._

(None of them could really disagree with that sentiment. The dragon seemed to love Jesse and barely tolerate everyone else.)

 _But can we figure something out without hurting_ _it_?

None of them really had an answer to the last part. Jesse looking like a hopeful puppy was not helping them figure anything out, either.

After a moment, Harper turned back to Jesse and nodded, a small smile spreading over her lips. "Okay."

Jesse perked up, relief spreading across their face. "Really?"

"Yes, of course," Isa hastily agreed. _Damn their cute face_ flitted through all three lord's minds, but none of them were sure who was the culprit of the thought. Perhaps it was all three of them. "We'll figure something out. Right, Mev?"

She looked over at the pale blue-haired lord, shooting them a look that had an undertone that said something along the lines of " _I will murder you if you upset them._ "

Mevia, faced with Jesse's puppy-dog eyes, Isa's subtly murderous look, and Harper's oddly hopeful look despite not having any expression on her face whatsoever, just shrugged.

"Yeah, alright."

"Jesse is a force to be reckoned with," Aiden mumbled to Lukas.

Lukas grinned at that.

* * *

 **A/N: Not wrong, Aiden, you're not wrong xD**

 **Well, looks like the lords are helping the October Children with the party after all! And the dragon's just sitting there, I guess xD**

 **Visual novels are wonderful. I'm making my own. The MCSM dating sim, though... oof xD**

 **I am a mechanical pencil. Reviews are my lead. I received the lead :P**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **LegendEmpress: Haha, yeah, Jack's great! I also like Mark, and I like Septiplier as a bro ship. Like "look at us we are awesome friends", not, uh, the romantic version xP / I don't remember those puns, unfortunately xD / Since Gabriel did the death poke and didn't actually HIT the dragon, I'd say probably not xD**

 **Toni42: Hehe, yeah. / Heeee, I got the idea from the doll game. / Hehe, I'm glad you think so.**

 **ThinMintE: Nope, perfectly normal. Well, not _normal_ , but they _are_ human. Just a weird one.**

 **TheAmberShadow: That's too bad, how _boat_ you look around? There are plenty of _fish in the sea._ / Hehe, yeah xD / Nope, they're just arguing for arguing's sake. More normal than discussing the light show Jesse put on xD / I can confidently say that they are, in fact, human. / Only half demons have to, and even then Petra doesn't. It's... kind of a spoiler beyond that.**

 **Guest: Thank you! xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	35. Plans Change

Mevia was busy.

They were all busy, one way or another, but Mevia sometimes wished she could trade places with Isa.

Or heck, Harper. She'd been a part of Himira. She knew redstone somewhat.

(Not as extensively as Harper did. The redstone expertise hadn't come about until they'd all been separated.)

The army could get rowdy. Very, very rowdy. Not to mention there were constant requests to increase the paycheck. Even when it was already double the amount of what the other lords paid.

But Isa, while excellent at combat ( _she tended to surprise people when she would pull out a second sword and dual wield as if it was second nature, as though wielding a sword that was already practically triple her size wasn't enough_ ), had no interest in fighting beyond doing so to protect the people, and Harper wasn't the best fighter.

She wasn't _awful_ , mind you, but Mevia had 'inherited' more of Himira's fighting than Harper had, and Harper had 'inherited' more of Himira's interest and knowledge in redstone, while Isa had 'inherited' nearly all of Himira's ability to be diplomatic and socialize.

A fairly good distribution, if not exactly an equal trade-off. It gave Mevia an excuse not to talk to people.

She had a very good gift at saying exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time, according to Isa once when she'd been scolding her for a particularly rude jibe at someone.

Sometimes she wished she was like Harper.

Almost nonverbal around everyone else.

She was shaken out of the thought by the sound of the communication orb chirping to life, slowly rising into the air until it was hovering at eye-level height.

Mevia stared at it.

Glanced around.

Then she figured it was better to just answer now, rather than risk the person on the other end waiting for her to fetch the others- if one of the lords needed all of them to talk, they'd just ask.

So she tapped the orb, which let out a cheery chime and a puff of illusion-smoke, before it solidified into a screen.

"Hello, Mevia," Ivor said mildly from his side of the screen, lifting his hand in greeting.

"Ivor?" she asked in reply, slightly stupidly.

"No, it's Xara," he said, chuckling at his own sarcastic joke, before he sobered and regarded her. "I need to talk to you about something."

Mevia paused.

Sounded important.

She pushed aside the paperwork for the army ( _what a shame_ ) and laced her fingers together, resting her chin on her hands. "What's the matter?"

"Well, there's been some trouble in the border cities of Enchantra..."

* * *

"So, er, that's why we're apparently going to be taking a detour to Enchantra to figure out what the heck is going on over there," Mevia finished, summarizing the reason she'd come into the room and, without any preamble whatsoever, announced, " _Er, so, looks like we're heading to Enchantra for a week at least._ "

The October Children could hardly just sit there and wait for their ticket to the party to come back, after all.

Petra shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, I don't really mind. Still got a few weeks until the party."

"Plus it's your job to help Ivor out," Lukas pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah..."

Jesse kicked quietly, feet swinging above the floor from where they were nowhere near touching the floor with their feet. Gill was watching in an interested way. "Ivor's gonna talk to us?"

"Yeah, he is the one who asked for help," Maya pointed out, grinning.

"Oh, yeah."

Isa smiled pleasantly and patted Harper on the back. "Yes, I don't think Harper particularly minds that we have to go see Ivor, of all lords," she said, in a tone that was somehow both pleasant and almost devilishly mischievous.

Harper's cheeks darkened slightly, as if embarrassed. "Shush," she mumbled, elbowing Isa slightly and trying not to continue blushing.

She failed miserably, but it was a good attempt.

"Oh, you guys are coming too?" Aiden looked faintly interested at this.

Mevia shrugged. "He did make the request to us specifically. When I suggested bringing you he said that if you wished to, he would appreciate the help."

Petra made an agreeing sound, rubbing her chin. "It makes sense. You guys are the second-oldest lords. Xara, Romeo, and Fred were fairly new."

"Well, 'new', but yes, that is true," Isa said agreeably, although an observant onlooker (and Jesse) would've noticed the way she glanced at the other two lords.

Lukas rubbed Jesse's back when he saw their slightly anxious look. "Don't worry- it should only take four days to get there, and then we handle whatever the issue is, and we'll have enough time to get back and head to the party."

"... okay..."

"Yeah, you can just ride your horse, so you don't have to worry about slowing us up- unless bandits show up, but they would hardly show up just because of you," Maya said, comfortingly.

"Technically they would, if they got wind that a human was travelling with us," Gill pointed out.

Maya smacked him over the back of the head, still smiling comfortingly at Jesse and ignoring Gill's vehement protests and cusses.

Maya didn't look it, but when she smacked someone ( _someone being Gill_ ) over the head, she did it _hard_. "Nope. They won't show up just because of you," she said, cheerily.

Jesse decided not to counter that. They didn't want Gill to suffer from Maya's ire even more, so they nodded with as convincing of a smile they could muster (it was not the most convincing smile they _could_ muster, but it was reasonable enough). "Alright," they said mildly enough.

Petra rolled her eyes at Gill. "Boy, you'd think you'd have learned by now," she told him teasingly.

"Yeah, yeah..."

Mevia hummed, crossing her arms and regarding the October Children. "I suppose you'll have to prepare..." she said, slightly thoughtfully.

Her eyes travelled to Jesse. "And maybe we should get Jesse a chestplate or something."

They blinked in surprise.

"Bad," Harper said, shaking her head.

"Yes, I _know_ our armors are more made for magic and speed," Mevia said slightly impatiently, rolling her red-and-black eyes, "but it's still better than the fuzzy jacket."

Jesse frowned slightly, trying not to grin. "I like my fuzzy jacket..."

Mevia made a sound of irritation and ruffled their hair, making them giggle. "You child. I meant it's better protection than the fuzzy jacket."

Well, couldn't argue with that.

Gill stretched slightly, leaning on Maya's shoulder. (She glowered at him.) "So, what would we call this? It's not really a mission. But it's not a request, either, since we're traveling with the lords..."

"I guess you could kind of call it a road trip," Jesse offered.

"Road trip?" Lukas repeated, jokingly and with a lopsided grin on his face.

Aiden, who was talking to Isa about something, lazily pumped a fist into the air. "Road trip. Woo," he said, in what was perhaps singlehandedly the least enthusiastic voice Jesse had ever heard, before resuming his conversation with Isa.

(She looked as though she were hiding a grin at the remark afterwards.)

Jesse looked down at Reuben.

He snuffled and rubbed his nose against their wrist.

Jesse smiled and rubbed the little pig back, trying to calm the little hard knot in the pit of their stomach and ignore it. It was fine.

Everything would be fine.

It was just a trip there, some troubleshooting, a trip back, and then the party. Simple. It shouldn't even take more than two or three weeks at maximum, according to the other lords and the October Children and Petra, and Jesse trusted them, despite having only known them for a week, Jesse trusted Lukas and Maya and Gill and Petra and Mevia and Isa and Harper and hell, they trusted Aiden.

Surely, _surely_ nothing could go wrong.

( _Right?_ )

* * *

 **A/N: Jesse, I think you may be wrong. xD**

 **Well, that's this chapter done! I'm... actually in Taiwan right now, so time zones are great. I hope you enjoyed the chapter regardless!**

 **And yay. Road trip.**

 **I am a slice of bread. Reviews are me getting toasted. I'm slightly burnt and I love it.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **LegendEmpress: Nah, I was like "ah, yeah, so we get attacked by a dragon... then... a party" xD / Agh yeah xD / There were a lot of puns in there, honestly xD / Haha, yeah xD / He did, he was really blunt. xD / It's nice! Thank you.**

 **ThinMintE: xD / It's a nice quote, yeah. Honestly, the original source material was... not as dark xD**

 **Toni42: Indeed xD We really gotta finish that xD / It's been mentioned, probably, just not in a lot of detail due to how... shocking the whole experience was. But yes, dragon love xD / Ehhh. He's not being a jerk at least.**

 **TheAmberShadow: _Water_ you doing? Pun websites are useless, all they do is _wave_ r and give you bad jokes. / Quietly, yes xD / Hehe, that'd be interesting. / Pffft xD / I'm on vacation too, haha.**

 **Guest: xD xD Glad you enjoy it.**

 **Guest: (thumbs up)**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Glad you enjoyed it!**

 **Well, that's all for now. See ya, so long, and g'bye x3**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	36. Another Fight, How Lovely

Lords got attacked easily in Cosmos.

Sure, it was rare that anyone could actually _beat_ them, but it was worth a shot to most demons (as well as, you know, the risk of getting murdered by said lord, since lords were like war machines and it was nearly impossible to kill one), since lords were worth a lot in terms of ransom. Not to mention, if you got away with it, you actually could gloat about it to people.

Not that that meant Mevia appreciated getting attacked on the road, but she tried to keep that in mind when it happened.

It only partially worked.

Isa darted out of the way of one bandit, mumbling something under her breath that Mevia would've been willing to bet three diamonds was a rather unladylike swear. "Of course. Of course we get attacked in the first three hours. Why was I surprised." She brought her sword down, the blade elongating midair, and cleaved a bandit across the chest with it.

She let out what sounded like a female version of the Wilhelm scream and crumpled to the floor, blood soaking the dirt around her. Isa spun, dancing lightly on the balls of her feet, and dove back into the fray without a problem, blade shrinking and growing in the span of seconds to accommodate for her opponent's reach and size.

Harper grunted quietly in agreement as she easily dodged one attack, before something caught her eye and her head snapped up. "Lukas!" she barked, usually mild voice spiking sharply-

Lukas ducked, pivoted, and shot his clawed hand straight into a demon's eyes without skipping a beat.

They screamed, scrabbling at Lukas's hand frantically, trying to wrench his claws out of their eyes-

A small redstone device winged out of nowhere as Lukas hauled his hand out and back, blood splattering over the ground, and attached to the demon, beeping frantically, before it exploded and sent a spray of blood everywhere.

Harper made a somewhat satisfied sound and spun to defend against a different attack.

Aiden dodged an attack, grunting. "Damn. Did we _have_ to get attacked?"

"Nah, but you know travel in Cosmos, it's basically required at this point," Petra replied slightly breathlessly, diving under one demon's axe blade and then swinging her sword up with a flick.

The axe blade thudded solidly into the ground, blood soaking the ground around it as a severed hand proceeded to topple next to it, the attacked demon letting out a scream of agony as, ah, yes, the fact that their _hand had just gotten cut off_ caught up to them.

Jesse shrank behind Mevia, who was currently swinging her axe with wild abandon, covered in blood and, yeah, that might've been someone's guts splattered on her dress there.

(She couldn't help noticing that they kept glancing around, as if looking for something, but they didn't really voice the concern of whatever it was. Just let their eyes wander and shift as they tried to avoid the bloodshed with their eyes, Reuben snuffling, wariness sparking as they looked about.)

Mevia had never babysat before, so when Maya ordered ( _ordered, forgetting her role in her panic to fumble out her staff and thwack some random bandit to the floor, but Mevia didn't care,_ none _of them cared in that moment_ ) Mevia to watch Jesse, that was what immediately popped to mind.

She was babysitting.

(She wasn't exactly sure whether to be pleased that of all people, she wasn't babysitting a brat, or offended that she was babysitting.)

Unfortunately, it did mean that Mevia had to spend a lot of her attention diverting it to make sure nothing was sneaking up on them; speaking of there actually _was_ someone coming up behind them, but she had her hands a bit full with the demon with the sword in front of her and oh, damn, she'd better handle that quickly...

"Hm. Jesse?"

Jesse blinked up at Mevia from where they were waiting with her, her axe out but mostly slashing at anyone who got a wee bit too close to Jesse. "Mm?"

"You did martial arts or something, right?"

At their bewildered look at her random announcing of the fact, she added, "Harper mentioned it in passing."

( _More like she actually theorized and mused about it a lot for the past few days since she wasn't in front of other people and just Isa and Mevia, when they were even in the same room, but she wasn't going to say this in front of Harper._ )

"Oh. Yeah, sort of... it wasn't official, though, I don't have a belt or anything," Jesse said thoughtfully, clinging to the back of her dress-robe while also trying not to trip her up, and also probably not trying to throw up due to all the blood and gore and death, which resulted in them barely pinching the back of her dress between their fingers while simultaneously looking like they were trying to push her away as much as possible and also stick to her like glue.

Basically, it looked hilarious.

"Well, do you think you could do something about the guy sneaking up on you?" Mevia grunted, swiping her axe through the air and managing to deflect a particularly large blade.

"I could maybe- wait- OH!" Jesse, abruptly getting why she was saying this, spun around and automatically kicked upwards.

They managed to (in an incredible display of luck) nail the demon right in the nuts.

He squeaked, automatically bending and grabbing the area in pain, and Jesse punched him in the face hastily.

This knocked him out for the count, which was good because there were about five other demons trying to come after Jesse.

(Mevia supposed that if she wanted to make them less of a target she shouldn't be guarding them, but with such a big group of bandits, she wasn't about to risk anyone's ire about Jesse ending up in a life-threatening situation because she was the best at combat and she hadn't been watching them.

Or Jesse getting killed. That would also be rather bad.)

"Alright, then. Jesse?"

Jesse looked up at Mevia, although they really just glanced at her- she was behind them now, and they were trying to keep an eye on the other demons, who were circling the two of them a bit more cautiously- they evidently did not also want to get kicked in the balls by the tiny human in a fuzzy black jacket who apparently seemed to be an expert at nailing someone in the balls.

Which was understandable. She wouldn't have wanted to get kicked, either.

"Mm?"

"Can you knock people out without kicking them in the nuts? I mean, it's effective, but-"

She swiped and managed to nail one demon in the side of the head rapidly, blood smearing on her axe blade as she twirled it out of the corpse that fell to the ground and hastily adjusted it, poised for another attack, another defense, another movement.

"People might not exactly find it the most efficient way to knock someone out."

Jesse's lips twisted in thought as their brow furrowed, trying to think of some move that didn't involve knocking someone out by kicking them in the balls. "Mm... maybe?"

One demon shot at Jesse like a bullet, darting across the ground, covering a lot of ground as he was upon them-

Jesse's foot flew up into his chest and knocked every ounce of air out of his lungs- Mevia could hear the wheeze and the 'oof!' as he had the wind knocked out of him- then across his face, their heel cracking into his skull.

He crumpled like he'd been shot.

Jesse looked up at Mevia hopefully, green eyes big and hopeful. "Did I do okay?"

Truthfully, had any human come in, done _that_ to a random demon, then looked up and hopefully asked if they'd done alright with the biggest eyes she'd ever seen, Mevia's reply would've been to recruit them right then and there, but since Romeo had somewhat claimed them and they didn't voice their wish ( _their claims of it being too stupid to voice aloud did make her a bit concerned but she was hardly going to bully them into telling her_ ), she could hardly do that.

She cleared her throat, still trying to keep her eyes on the battle. "Um. Yes. You did fine."

Jesse looked so ridiculously happy that Mevia was tempted to grin at them.

She scowled instead.

"Don't just stand there, do more! We've got to beat the bandits if we're gonna keep going," she snapped, perhaps a bit more harshly than intended. "Duck."

Jesse did as she asked, and Mevia proceeded to slash open the throat of another bandit who was behind Jesse, Jesse popping up like a daisy in winter once she'd finished this... rather bloody task.

To be honest, despite the fact that they kept quaking, they were handling this remarkably well.

"Oh- yes, ma'am!" Jesse said this, puffing up quickly and giving her some kind of bizarre salute (Reuben grinned at that) and hastily went back to somehow kicking a bunch of demon's asses without a problem.

Mevia watched them, aware of this weird prickling feeling at the back of her head, that said they were all being watched right now. Scrutinized.

She ignored it. Of course she was being watched, she was in the middle of a fight and- ah, there-

Mevia swung her axe and nearly gutted this bandit; as it was she left a small gash in their abdomen and backed away a step, watching. Eyes narrowed as she surveyed their movements, watched the bandit circling her slightly more warily.

Absently noticed Jesse diving under a sword blade and sweeping their leg out, knocking someone to the floor and scrambling away to jab a punch into a different demon's nose.

The demon proceeded to yelp, swear, and clutch at his nose like they'd broken it, blood pouring from his nostril.

 _Can we adopt Jesse?_ was the thought that went through all three lords' heads a moment later.

 _Harper already did_ , Isa replied.

 _Hush_.

* * *

 **A/N: Can't get mad for telling the truth xD**

 **If this chapter seems a bit out of context, they left to start going to Enchantra, but got ambushed on the way. I just didn't want to detail them leaving.**

 **I am a plant. Reviews are my water. I have received water but I am a thorsty plant, would love more xD**

 **LegendEmpress: True that! / He's just not fond of spending yet more time away from his plants xD / Puns aren't too hard; if you just stare at words and think of sentences you can come up with some xD / Ivor is the oldest currently. There used to be more that were older, but, uh, well, they died xD / Honestly, as long as you already had the episodes before it was delisted, you're still good. Which is what I had, so xD**

 **ThinMintE: Most probably xD / I wasn't talking about the quote; I was talking about October Children. The original source was a lot more lighthearted and didn't have as dark of a backstory for the protagonist that I came up with xD The quote does fit, though.**

 **Guest: Hehe xD I think a bunch of the characters in the fic sympathize with you.**

 **Guest: Yes, but in the case of it being a separate guest due to them not having a unique username, I'd prefer to err on the side of caution and just treat them as separate reviews.**

 **TheAmberShadow: I _sea_. _Algae_ -st (i'll just) have to up my game, then, and not _clam up._ / Mevia is a part of Himira and Himira was more awkward; thus while she's still very fond of her puns and she's still more abrasive than the others, she's an awkward bean. / Heeeee :3 / To be honest, Aiden's not happy to leave his plants alone with Romeo for an extended period of time, so it's understandable. / Things already kinda went wrong xD / It's great! Just... jet lag. And hot. xD**

 **Toni42: It's nice xD / Yeah, that'll be nice when we hit it xD / I love going into Mevia's head, she's great xD / Oh noes xD / All the loves and cuddles. / He's just gonna be sitting there for a while going "tiny hooman gone. will wait." Pretty much xD**

 **That's all! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	37. The End is Empty and Eerie

When the fight had ended, things actually weren't too bad.

Sure, with the lords they'd been planning to move quicker and skip past the End (which was a city, Gill had to reassure Jesse upon seeing their bewildered face, not something bad), but the bandits were actually more vicious and had more numbers than they'd expected, so they'd ended up wasting enough time that by the time they were at the End, the sun was barely grazing the horizon, and after some arguing about light magic (which none of them had, or in the case of the lords, they didn't have a good), they decided that they weren't about to try out Jesse's weird skill with magic again without practice (which Jesse did not have) and to just stay the night at the End.

But on the bright side, the worst injury anyone on their end had obtained was a bloody nose (Gill gave a thumbs up and just said he'd ice it when Jesse fussed over it), and they'd all learned that Jesse could use a little bit of fighting training, since they actually weren't half bad at it.

(Isa, however, did murmur to Harper when Jesse happened to be listening at one point to not teach them anything lethal, and Harper must've agreed with this sentiment because she nodded rather vigorously.)

The gates to the End weren't exactly the most encouraging things to look at- tall obsidian pillars that towered above Jesse's head, with glowing crystals at the top, marked the perimeter of the city, and the gates were black wire that were shaped like dragons and snakes.

They had to let one of the dragons on the gate sniff their ID before they were allowed in (the dragon started licking Jesse's hand instead of sniffing the ID when they got close, which caused Isa to laugh and Harper to have to redirect the dragon to the actual ID), but since they all had ID cards they were all allowed inside.

The sky was a deep purple the second they stepped in, clouds vaguely purple and more like wisps of smoke than anything else. The streets were lined with yellow stone that looked like it should feel squishy but didn't, which threw them off a little bit, and many of the buildings were accented with smooth purple blocks that were called purpur, according to Lukas' impressed whistle and remark on them.

It was somewhat fitting, considering the block was a shade of lavender.

"Welcome to the world's most empty city," Mevia said sardonically, spreading her arms. "Makes you feel like it's _The End_ of the world."

Jesse giggled at the pun, while Harper sighed and Gill closed his eyes, looking like he was physically restraining himself from cringing.

Isa shook her head and patted Mevia on the back. "Moving on... shall we head to the palace? Soren will be there. Or at least he'll have a welcome message with some form of instruction on what to do if we're staying there, since he might be poking around the End."

"Yeah... honestly, don't feel like dealing with Endermen anyway."

Jesse blinked and twisted around to look at Petra, who was rubbing her face tiredly. "Endermen?" they echoed, in a bewildered way.

Aiden nodded, glancing at the walls. "Soren's weird..."

Yes, that explains a lot.

He noticed their bewildered expression and clarified, apparently deciding their confused expression was more annoying than having to speak to them. "He's got this weird obsession with Endermen. They don't necessarily enter the city, because that could potentially get really dangerous, but the enchantments sometimes keep the Endermen stuck up against the walls so that he can examine them."

"The enchantments eventually kill the Endermen, since it's too dangerous to just let 'em wander around, but I can tell you, from experience..."

He made a face, lips twisting slightly as the memory apparently made him rather uncomfortable. "It's not really fun to go walking through the streets and turn a corner to see a screaming Enderman up against the wall."

"Ah... is that why the city's..." Jesse paused, regarding the spookily empty city, before gesturing expansively at the spookily empty city.

Petra nodded, crossing her arms. "Yeah... though, this city has historically been pretty empty, since negative magic is drawn to the area. That's why the sky's all purple once you come in," and she pointed up at the violet sky. "Negative energy's so heavy that it's messing with the sky. Legend tells of some great source of negative energy being kept here before the gates in Jupin were created, and from what Ivor says occasionally, I think it might be pretty true."

"Oh," Jesse said, rather cleverly. "I see..."

"Don't be so _negative_ , it's not the _End_ of the world if we stay here," Mevia replied, her facial expression not changing a whit.

This time, everyone except Jesse groaned at her.

* * *

Soren- one of the barons, according to Mevia- wasn't there upon their arrival, although he did, in fact, have a pleasant welcome message at the entrance that told them that if they knew the password, meaning that they were a lord or another baron or someone there on their behalf, they were free to find a room to stay in for the night and he would try to see them when he returned.

They did in fact know the password (Harper uttered a quiet 'Command Block' and the entrance doors pretty much flew open), so that was nice.

Well, Jesse supposed he could've been in the building, but if he _was_ there, he was sure hiding pretty well.

Not that it was hard. It was surprisingly large, considering only one person lived in it, wooden hallways with polished floors that were warmly, if somewhat dimly, lit. There were little plants on little tables, and in every segment of every hallway there was a fountain.

(Gill splashed Maya at one point, which caused her to splash him back, which caused Isa to intervene to avoid them splashing the floor.)

There were even two floors, although the upper floor was more cramped than the bottom and seemed to be more of a thing to access other rooms from if you happened to end up up there and not just have to default back to the ground floor every time.

After everyone had brushed their teeth, coming to Jesse's room because they'd apparently picked the only room with a good sink (that was Mevia's excuse, at least) and changed in their pajamas (Harper seemed very happy to see them in footie pajamas, which made Jesse tint rather pink), everyone bid each other good night (except Maya and Gill told each other that they both hoped they died in their sleep, which seemed like an odd way to express affection to one another) and headed off to bed.

... and Jesse couldn't sleep.

They should've been able to, by all means; the bed was quite comfortable and the room was dark and Reuben snuffled in his sleep against their chest comfortingly like a breathing teddy bear, but they just couldn't drop off into sleep.

They tried to count Enderman bloops from outside the walls, but that just made them more nervous instead of lulling them to sleep.

After seventeen bloops, they wiggled out from under the covers and decided to walk around. It wasn't exactly the best time to go for a walk, but they could probably tire themselves out by just going around in circles, and they needed to get some sleep anyway.

The hallways were empty- big surprise. They were still dimly lit, and every door, though shut, wasn't locked.

So by the time Jesse had spent two hours walking around (with no change in how much they wanted to sleep, unfortunately), they'd found four bathrooms, a laboratory that was pressed right up against the city boundaries, a few living rooms, and they were pretty sure one room was a kitchen.

Then they came across one doorway that was...

Well, it was less normal than the others, to put it kindly.

It was covered in knitted pictures.

When Jesse pulled the door open, they found a rather large room that looked as though it was a little slice of Jesse's world that had been taken out and plopped into Cosmos, somehow perfectly untouched except for the fountains and bridge.

The room also looked remarkably like it was made of wool.

They stepped onto the grass experimentally. Yep, that was wool, alright.

Squishy and solid all at once, they practically bounced in place as they looked about. The wool sky was blue with clouds of white wispy wool hanging from the ceiling. The leaves of the trees and the bark were wool, the grass was wool; in fact, the only thing that wasn't wool was the water in the stream and the fountains, which were made with wood and made the rest of the wool world look a bit more artificial in comparison.

Jesse couldn't help but stare around themselves in interest.

"Hello."

Jesse squeaked, jumped, and turned to see a man with unruly ginger hair and a thinning forehead. His mustache was the same color as his hair, and it was also rather curly. He wore a simple kind of suit, although he had a chestplate under his arm and they felt as though he'd been taking off the brownish, blue-decorated armor when they'd come in, and he was regarding them with a somewhat wary gaze. His eyes were gleaming red; bright and strange compared to the other demons Jesse had met.

"What are you doing up?" Soren asked.

* * *

 **A/N: Soren is also a ninja, apparently.**

 **Nah he's just... isolated xD**

 **A good chunk of my hair is now a darkish pinkish color. I think it's lovely xD**

 **Random question of the chapter (RQTC, boy it's been a really long time since I've done these): What color would you dye your hair (or did you dye your hair, if you have in fact dyed your hair) and why?**

 **I dyed my hair pink because I like the color pink, and it's been a part of my avatar for at least a few years.**

 **I am me. Reviews are my mangos. I _love mangos._ (I'm not even kidding when I say that, I'm eating a mango as I write this.)**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Toni42: Indeed xD / Yeah, she's not allowed to be a softy. No niceness! Well, a little niceness. / Jesse mostly has the advantage of a) having an eerily good aim for sensitive areas, and b) people thinking they're a smol bean so they're not exactly doing their best to prevent themselves from getting smacked. / Heeee xD**

 **LegendEmpress: Oh noooo, that sucks :/ I'm probably doing a gameplay on my YouTube... soonish xD / Ahh, thank you xD / Heheeeeee xD**

 **ThinMintE: It's less that and 'don't try to kill them or they're gonna fight back'. Usually they'd probably feel really bad about it. / They do! I've never owned plants myself, haha.  
**

 **TheAmberShadow: I only widened the _pool_ , my friend. Don't feel too bad about _fish_ ing around for puns; I'm beginning to run a bit _dry_ myself. / Indeed indeed xD / Teleportation spells are very draining and they'd only be able to do it once a day, plus unless you have some kind of control on the other end there's no way to guarantee where you end up. And since only one district is actually working on machinery and it's just now turned out a computer, a subway is asking for a bit much xD / Yeah, actually, though they will probably have to go home xD / No, actually. You might've noticed that I keep mentioning every once in a while that Jesse can feel someone watching them. / If you were once the same person, Harper adopting Jesse by proxy would sort of make Isa and Mevia godmothers or stepmothers; although if they are gracious they would take the title of aunt instead.**

 **DarkbeastDend: It's more that they got very lucky and got some nice training in. Especially speed. you can't hurt what you can't hit xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'byeeee!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	38. One AM in Wool World

"You... must be Soren," Jesse said at last, trying to figure out something proper to say besides 'um, hi'.

Which was fine, but they wanted to be slightly more wary around this guy, so sue them.

Soren shrugged. "I am. But must I be?" He adjusted his grip on his armor and blinked at them thoughtfully. "I'm not particularly sure I _want_ to sometimes. Sometimes, I'd like to be anything but Soren." His face lit up as a thought occurred to him. "Ooh, like a donkey for example."

Jesse blinked.

"Do you like donkeys?"

He shrugged again, bending down so that he was more on their eye level. The baron's unruly ginger hair bounced with him. "I don't know. I'm partial to cats, myself. But I do prefer Endermen."

Jesse gave a little shiver at that. "Oh... aren't they dangerous?"

"Actually, from what I've seen they simply don't like eye contact. Endermen won't attack unless you make direct eye contact with them," Soren remarked, eyes glittering with interest. His mustache curved up as he grinned. "Did you know they're one of the only mobs in this world that can move blocks about? The other ones that are formed from negative energy merely destroy. But Endermen have the potential to create."

He paused for a moment. "Truthfully, they do look a bit distasteful. But they're still fascinating creatures."

Jesse hummed, thumbing the corner of their mouth. "I see... were you looking at them earlier?"

"Oh, when you first came? Yes, actually. One was stuck in just the right position that I could get an _excellent_ look at their teeth without getting my face bitten off, and, well, that sort of opportunity is not one to be missed," Soren almost _gushed_ , his eyes gleaming. You could really see that he enjoyed them.

"I got attacked by one the other day," they replied, not knowing what else to say. "Nobody told me not to look it in the eyes."

Soren sighed and plopped down in the woolly grass. Jesse, not knowing what else to do, followed suit. "Yes, humans and half-demons fare the worst when they first see one. They never know not to just stare at it like it's a circus attraction or something and inevitably tend to make eye contact with it."

"Oh," Jesse replied cleverly.

Soren smiled at the reply and fell quiet, listening to the water burbling through the little fake stream.

Jesse watched the water glitter in the 'sun', before looking up at Soren bemusedly. "What is this place?" they asked, as politely as they could when that was the question they were asking.

"Oh, this?" He gestured around at the woolly little slice of peace. "This is my Wool World."

Jesse looked around politely. Now that they were over the surprise of it all being wool, it was actually rather nice. Better than the laboratory that looked like something had exploded in it. Besides, it was so well crafted that they couldn't help marveling at it a little. "I didn't know demons knew how to knit."

"Crochet, actually," Soren corrected. "But yes; crocheting and knitting and the such is a human skill, so the half-demons that decide to become full demons and stay in Cosmos rather than fulfill their wish are rather wealthy, since they sell those such things. Personally, I find crocheting to be more interesting."

Jesse considered these words, sifting through the information.

And then they remembered something that actually seemed to be a gem amid the other pieces of information, and they looked up at him. "But if demons don't knit or crochet, and you do, then... you came from my world?"

Soren scratched his mustache. "The human world? Yes. I had a wish, spent a long stint as a half-demon, you know those details but by the time I'd finished serving most of my time, Ivor was searching for a new baron due to the previous one's dying. And this place is _magnet_ for Endermen, which I found fascinating, so..."

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I gave up my wish to become the baron of this place."

Jesse's eyes widened. "You did...?"

"Oh, yes. I did decide to stay half-demon, though, as I'd become quite handy with light magic by the end of it and I didn't believe I'd be able to get used to the abrupt switch of how the lords have trouble with it," Soren added, quickly.

"You can do that...?"

"Oh, half the barons are half-demon," Soren said dismissively, waving off Jesse's amazement. "Even Fred- the former lord of Jupin- even he was half-demon, I think. It's much rarer that a half-demon becomes a lord, though, so it did cause quite a stir."

Jesse blinked and looked down at their hands, considering this in quiet boggled amazement. "Oh..."

They considered it for another minute, watching the sun glitter on water and feeling the woolly floor press through their pajamas as they sat next to Soren, who had leaned back to look at the small hills and blue 'sky' absently.

"Do you regret it?"

Soren hummed, scratching his cheek. "Odd enough, no, I don't." He glanced back at them for a moment, before continuing, "They did return my memory once I became a baron, so I remember my wish. But it wasn't as important to me after such a long stint as a half-demon, and I didn't have much to return to. So it wasn't so much of a loss."

Jesse thought this over and, after a moment, asked, "What was your wish?"

Soren gave them a dry smile, still watching the water glow. "A bit of a personal question, isn't it? We've hardly spoken before."

"Oh...! I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

He laughed, cutting them off. "Relax..."

"Jesse."

"Lovely name. Relax, Jesse, I was only joking."

Jesse smothered a small yawn the best they could. They were starting to feel tired now. Something about Soren just put them at ease. "Oh."

He chuckled at the simple reply and shrugged again. "No, er, my wish was to live longer."

Jesse blinked.

Then turned to look at him. "That was your wish?"

He nodded. "That was my wish. I had been in a car accident a few months prior to being brought to Cosmos, and it was... painful, to say the least?"

He ran his fingers quietly over a small bumpy scar on his hand that they hadn't noticed. "I'd needed a lung transplant due to some... ah, complications, but there weren't many willing donors, and the date was approaching, and it wasn't likely to... succeed, anyhow."

He shrugged, as though he were talking about the weather.

Jesse's face was solemn as they looked up at him. "I'm sorry about that."

Soren shook his head, still not looking directly at them. "Don't be. It wasn't your fault, and it was a long time ago anyhow." He rubbed his eye slightly, lips pressing together as he considered his words. "I was... afraid."

He gave a weak little chuckle. "Despite my close friends perishing in the incident, despite not having anyone left except for myself, I... I simply didn't want to die."

After a moment, he tilted his head back to look at the 'sky' and exhaled quietly. "So I made my wish. It just so happened to be the day the door was open, and where the door was open, and... becoming a half-demon halted the process of me dying. It would've been resolved before I was reverted, but staying a half-demon regardless has kept me from dying. So in a way, I did receive my wish."

He turned to look at Jesse, taking their little waif of a form in, their wiry little body and big (slightly sleepy) eyes and fluffy dark hair and the slightly over-large footie pajamas as they looked up at him earnestly, drinking in the story silently.

And he smiled.

"You ought to go to sleep."

Jesse rubbed their eye sleepily, humming and standing up, still rubbing their eyes. "Okay... I like your house, by the way."

Soren's smile broadened. "Thank you. I built it myself."

Jesse gave him a thumbs up (he looked amused) and offered a sleepy 'goodnight'.

They were about to meander back out of the Wool World and in the direction of their room, but a sneaking question crept into their thoughts and before they knew it they had turned around.

"Why did you tell me... about your wish?"

Soren's smile faded slightly as he pondered this.

"Well, I thought friends told each other secrets." He paused, smile falling entirely into a thoughtful frown, before he lifted his eyes to Jesse's, red eyes searching their green ones. "... tell me something. Are you my friend?"

Jesse was still, turning the word over in their head.

Friend.

They hadn't had many friends before Cosmos.

After a moment, their lips curved up into a happy little smile and they nodded.

Soren's smile returned, relief tinting it this time. "Excellent. That's the best news I've heard in a long while." He paused, before gesturing around himself drily. "Although, clearly that's not a very high bar that I've set."

Jesse giggled and mumbled another sleepy 'goodnight' before turning around and leaving the room. It was a straight shot back to their room, and they'd left the door ajar anyway.

Soren kept the smile up for another minute, before it fell, exhaustion and tiredness creeping into his expression.

He was tired of this skill now.

As a half-demon, he was able to see pain. Upon becoming a baron, the skill was amplified to the point where sometimes he could tell that someone was literally going to die- either from their own pain driving them to it, or as a direct result of the pain. It was part of the reason he didn't mind living alone. Endermen weren't people.

He did not have to worry about seeing pain.

And simply being next to Jesse...

Well.

He was surprised they were still here. He would have given up a long time ago.

Or would he have?

Perhaps not.

 _You weren't willing to join the one person who cared about you the most when they died in that accident_ , some part of him whispered to himself. _You were too scared._

 _You wouldn't be willing to remove yourself from the earth even if you did give up._

What word suited him?

Turncoat? No, he hadn't betrayed anyone (even if he felt as though he had).

Wicked? No, perhaps not. That didn't sound right either.

Soren's lips twitched up into a smile that held no humor.

Ah, yes. He knew the right word.

 _Coward._

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter got so much _longer_ than I was expecting.**

 **Soren appears! He doesn't have too much of a role in this story... well, actually, no, but that's spoilers. But aw, he's a sad bean :(**

 **No, I'm not gonna say who died.**

 **RQTC: What's your favorite food that sounds weird but actually is really good?**

 **Boiled peanuts. Especially Asian-cooked boiled peanuts. Those are really good. Soft, too xD**

 **I am a bag. Reviews are items. I am stuffed with items but I can take more.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **LegendEmpress: That's fair. I do like purple and black, but for some reason I don't like wearing them together too often? Maybe it's too Witherstorm-y for me xD / Probably like this summer. I've got time. / Hehe, you are _pepperoni_ -ing me with puns. I love it, _pizza_ have mercy on my bad skills. / He's good at working with the Endermen, I guess xD / Yee :P**

 **Toni42: He doesn't particularly care who's wandering around his house; since if they know the passcode they're supposed to be there. However it's like one AM when he asks, so xD / Ahhh, I remember that. I might dye the ends pink sometime, but xD / She _pun_ ishes people with bad puns. But yes, puns xD**

 **ThinMintE: That's neat! If I did green I'd look kind of like a Chocolate-Chip Mint ice cream cone or something, so that's probably not the right color for me xD Your hair sounds lovely though! / Possibly xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: I _dolphin_ itely think I'm running out of water puns. Maybe we should stop _clownfish_ ing around. / Negative energy would probably screw it up and no one has the time or patience to eternally repair it, probably xD / No, not Romeo. / A very interesting contrast! xD / I dunno the context of 'the lords have good what' xD / Yeah, they're not allowed in, unfortunately xD / No, the area just attracts it more heavily. The Command Block actually acts as something of a deterrent in this situation but Soren doesn't know it's there. / Soren's rooms are themed. So some of the kitchens looked like they MIGHT be kitchens but are themed in such a way that it's hard to tell. / This theory was not mentioned xD **

**Guest: xD**

 **Guest: Puns are quite _pun_ tastic, yes. / They already know martial arts; it's more of a matter of honing it so that they can fight more effectively. / xD / I believe I answered that question xD / Ahhh, thank you!**

 **That's all for now! Wow, this is big. Okay, see ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	39. Pink Breakfast and Planning

Jesse was eating some dish that was a rather pretty shade of pink (nobody would tell them what was in it, and so they decided not to be a nuisance and pester them about it) when Soren walked in.

Well, more accurately, he said, "Good morning" while he was right behind Mevia, which caused her to jump and choke, which then in turn caused her to swear like a sailor at him and simultaneously choke and cough while Isa thumped her on the back.

His mustache was turned up at the ends in what suspiciously looked like a smile as he continued, "Good morning, October Children, good morning Isa, Harper, hello, Petra, nice to see you, and..." His smile turned into a wider one as he lifted his hand in greeting. "Hello, Jesse."

Jesse bobbed their head and waved over their pink dish. "Hi, Soren. What's this?" They pointed at the pink dish.

He went over to look at it a bit more closely, staring at the dish closely.

(Jesse was busy looking up at him with big eyes while he looked at whatever pink mush they were eating, and thus missed the death glares half of the room proceeded to send Soren promising his imminent doom if he told them exactly what was in it.)

After a moment, he shrugged. "Since you're eating it, I don't think I should say. There is a small amount of meat in it, but nothing particularly disgusting or, ahem," he cleared his throat slightly, " _exotic_ , so unless you're a vegetarian..."

"I do tend to eat less meat, but I'm not vegetarian or vegan, so..." Jesse shrugged and looked down at Reuben, who was snuffling quietly in a little bowl of some kind of plant that Aiden had put out for him (he said there was a kind of flower mixed in that would help Reuben digest and that didn't taste bad, but that was all he'd say about the ingredients) in their lap.

He was getting some plant debris on their clothing.

"Oh, is that so? You're fine, then." He ruffled their hair and looked up at the others with a small smile. "Well, may I ask what you're all doing passing through here? You all don't usually muck around in the End."

"We do usually try to skip it," Gill murmured.

Maya kicked him in the shin.

Lukas stopped eating his weird black ramen dish (well, it looked like ramen to Jesse, they had no idea if it actually was anything like ramen) to answer, outright ignoring Gill and Maya swearing at each other quietly. "We're actually headed to Fortrylle."

"Enchantra's capital," Isa told Jesse quietly when she saw their bemused expression.

"Oh."

Soren nodded, as if that made sense. "Ah, I see. But surely you could've skipped the End...?"

He faltered, and then he sighed, a slightly more annoyed expression fixing itself on his face. "Oh, wait. The bandit activity has been more active in Hizelk lately, correct?"

"Yeah, so we spent about... what, half the day yesterday fending off this one giant group of bandits?" Aiden sighed and bit off a large bite of his toast. (Was it toast? Jesse couldn't tell. It smelled like toast and looked like burnt toast, so it probably was something along the lines of toast.)

"Oh, yes, and then you've got to spend all that time muddling through Jupin, since Beacontown's in turmoil as well, and the bandit activity's even higher..."

Maya swore again, and this time not because she was bickering with Gill. "Oh, that's fantastic... what kind of delay would that add?"

Soren pursed his lips, considering it. "Well, any messengers that come from Beacontown usually end up having to take a full day... so two days to get through Jupin and end up in Beacontown, including a stay at Beacontown since you can't really blaze through the night..."

"It would be difficult to _blaze_ through the night with all those _Ghast_ ly monsters roaming about at night," Mevia said, with a completely straight face.

"No," Harper told her, trying not to grin while scowling at her.

"Is this really the time for puns?" Aiden muttered, frowning at Mevia.

"It is always the time for puns."

"It really isn't, Mevia," Isa mumbled.

Jesse giggled, which made Soren sigh and ruffle their hair. Either from sympathy or as some kind of 'punishment', Jesse couldn't tell.

"Two days isn't that bad, truthfully," Isa said, after she'd finished shooting halfhearted insults at Mevia, "most slower people would take longer."

"Yes, so for normal people it would take weeks," Aiden said flatly.

Soren nodded. "Essentially."

Jesse took another bite of the pink dish as Soren leaned on the table, quietly thinking through the schedule. "As long as you hurry, you shouldn't have to worry about a huge delay."

Harper looked faintly relieved at that. "Good," she said simply.

Soren nodded, evidently not taken aback by her complete lack of talking. Maybe it was a well-known thing? They _were_ still in Hizelk.

Mevia sighed and looked at Jesse eating the pink dish.

It was like pink powder. Jesse would probably have pinned it as the sakura denbu they'd eaten once at the school culture festival at the Japan booth, except it wasn't sweet and it was a bit clumpier, like there were small chunks of something inside.

"Do you like it?"

Jesse nodded and took another bite. It was... actually, it kinda tasted like toast with butter on it, but... not.

(Yes, what a wonderful description. Jesse really couldn't have described it beyond that; it was buttered toast but not _quite_ the taste of buttered toast.)

"Yeah; I was kinda expecting it to be sweet like sakura denbu."

Aiden shot them a rather weird look. "Sakura what now?"

"Oh, um, sakura denbu... it's like this... it's a Japanese powder thing. Kinda looks like this except minus the chunks," Jesse hastily added, trying not to blush bright pink at having let their thoughts slip.

Lukas nodded, as if that made perfect sense.

Maybe it did, but it probably didn't.

"Oh. That makes sense. What is it made of?" he asked, tilting his head at Jesse. They couldn't see his eyes due to the ever-present blindfold, but they would've been willing to bet that there was a good amount of curiosity in his eyes.

"Sakura denbu is like... sweetened codfish flakes."

They got some extremely weird looks for that. Even Reuben peeked up from his breakfast to give Jesse a skeptical look.

"I know it sounds weird but it's actually really good..."

* * *

 **A/N: Sakura denbu is actually a thing; you know in Studio Ghibli's Totoro the older sister (Satsuki, evidently) makes a bento with a heck ton of rice, some kind of fish, peas, and pink stuff? It's commonly speculated that the pink powder is sakura denbu.**

 **It actually does seem plausible. It's very pink. xD**

 **No, the thing's not poisoned or anything. Just not some very savory ingredients for a human to hear xD**

 **RQTC: Have you ever done something that just made you close your eyes and take a very deep breath and try not to throw whatever it is across the room?**

 **Yes. Coding. I spent most of yesterday coding the user interface of a visual novel. Which in itself is not bad, but the effort it took was... well, simply put I don't understand most of the coding language so when an error came up I was like "... Google! Help me!"**

 **I am a cup. Reviews are my coffee. Oh no, I'm overflowing xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Toni42: Yeeee x3 / It's not that, he's used to half-demons not remembering their wish because their hearts were taken. So while he DOES realize Jesse's a human, it just flat-out doesn't occur to him that they still remember it. / There are a lot of half-demons roaming around Cosmos. xD / Hehehehe xD / oh noes xD / Lots of puns, yes xD**

 **ThinMintE: No prob :P / I might've had those once too! I think I liked them, but it was a long time ago now so xD**

 **Guest: Ahh, thank you! Honestly, I thought he was out of character for the bits where I had to make nonsense up. xD / That is true. I also fear death, although for slightly different reasons. xD / Lol, true! / I think we do have more freedom, but with more freedom... comes a hell of a lot of more problems xD / Nah, is good. / Thank you! I'm glad you liked it :3**

 **Guest: I had to _purse_ my lips at that pun. I'll be _tote_ -ing that one around. / Oh, I won't punish you, I thought it was _pun_ tastic.**

 **TheAmberShadow: That does sound interesting xD / I'm just _squid_ ding, I'm having a ton of fun. I'm not _salty_ that you're able to match the pun-making, though, you're an absolute _star_ (fish)! / Oops. I'm not good at noticing typos xD I just meant that they didn't have a good control on light magic. For some reason I forgot to finish the sentence xD / Hehehe, I didn't even think of that. / Nope. Someone else. (Redstonia is one of the cities on the border, as well as Boom Town, so both are alive and well.) / He wouldn't tell someone else about someone else's secret- it's not his to tell. / Yeah xD**

 **Darkbeast Dend: That's fair. xD / That's cool. I personally just get jumped too easy xD / Glad you enjoyed it!**

 **That's all for now! I also am starting an MCSM Let's Play series on my YouTube! It's not hard to find me, if you google 'ariza luca' a ton of my stuff pops up xD**

 **See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	40. Things Are Going Downh(e)ll

Jesse could feel the change in atmosphere the moment they exited the end and entered Jupin. It was a combination of the four districts, like a strange patchwork quilt, with some different patches. At one point they wandered into one patch that had ground that looked like meat and lava pools that cast a weird glow along with the Cosmos sun.

"Well, at least it looks like the Ghasts and pigmen and blazes and whatnot didn't stick around," Gill mumbled.

Upon seeing Jesse's expression, he clarified. "We call these patches Nether patches. These," and he tapped the meaty ground with his foot to specify what he meant by 'these'.

"Sometimes the negative energy'll stay _in_ the patches, and the monsters it creates will just linger in these patches. We're not sure why."

Jesse looked down at the 'meaty' floor. It didn't feel any less unsettling than before.

"Oh."

Bob snorted and nuzzled Jesse, allowing them to huddle down into its fiery mane. Despite being literal fire, it really didn't burn or anything- just felt like Jesse was touching solid sunshine.

Reuben snuffled as well, nudging his little nose against Jesse's stomach. They smiled down at him and rubbed his head.

"It's actually pretty common, so I'm glad that it did NOT stick around," Maya mumbled.

"Is... are the patches 'cause this is the demon realm?" Jesse asked, timidly.

Harper shook her head. "Climate."

"Harper's right; Cosmos is weird in that it's not really... _hell_ , or anything, it's like its own little world with different climates. Occasionally patches of... well, hell peek through," Mevia had to admit a moment later whens he couldn't find a proper word, "like you'll see a lot here since Fred's gone and there's nothing to really support the environment, and you'd see like one or two in Hizelk and the other places but not as commonly, but yes. North is cold. South is hot. East and West also have different climates." as

Isa sighed. "It's not that simplistic, but to be quite honest explaining why every district is so different would be rather difficult," she said to Jesse, "so for now, yes, that's a good-enough explanation."

Jesse hummed, burying into Bob's mane slightly. "... so... without a ruler... things go to hell?"

There was a long pause as everyone processed that.

Then Aiden groaned, grinding his palm into his good eye, Harper shook her head with a tiny smile on her lips, and Mevia gave Jesse the proudest look she could possibly give while Gill laughed. "You know, I never even realized that you could make that pun..."

* * *

Beacontown looked like it would've been a nice place, if it was brighter and a tiny bit more put-together.

It was a patchwork already- Jesse could see a giant slot machine towering over a corner of the town, and there was a pool of lava with a giant octopus statue in it, but it was a bit of a mess and Jesse found it hard to walk anywhere without tripping on a loose cobblestone.

It was noisy. A muffled din of weapons clashing and haggling and general destruction and mayhem roared in the background, enough for Jesse to always be on edge even when their ears had finally begun to tune it out. The lords went off with Petra, Aiden, Lukas, who'd claimed that they had a contact that would find them a place to stay for the night.

(Jesse managed to catch when Aiden muttered that he sure hoped that person hadn't been murdered, despite Maya's best attempts to shut him up.)

So they were sitting with Gill and Maya, who were bickering back and forth casually, when a demon strolled up, looking like they'd just waltzed through one of the Nether patches, and started inquiring about directions.

The two of them stood up to look at his map of the city (although Gill looked irked), and Jesse was left to sit on the edge of the pool of lava, heat soaking through their clothes and making the fuzzy jacket feel almost unbearably hot.

"Well, hello, there."

Jesse looked up at the stupidly, _cheesily_ bad-guy line. There was, indeed, someone there, smiling pleasantly at Jesse, except their outfit looked like it had been put through a shredder and they were missing more than a few teeth.

"Hello," they replied, mostly out of courtesy.

"Whatcha up to?"

Jesse glanced to Gill and Maya, but they were busy working on directions ("this is literally a saloon that's on the opposite end of the city, how did you end up here?") and even though Maya had an eye on them, she looked like she could hardly pull away to come help them.

"Would you leave me alone, please? I'm waiting for someone," Jesse said, politely, trying not to blurt out that actually they were waiting for quite many someones, including three lords, and so could they please go away-

"A human? Waiting for someone? Oh, that's too rich."

They could tell.

Jesse didn't know _how_ they could tell, but they could tell.

Their eyes flickered up to sweep the streets, catching sight of what looked like a ragtag group lurking in the shadows of the nearby alleys and leering down at them , like vultures surrounding a carcass.

They were the corpse. Or they would be, if they didn't-

Run.

They had to run.

Jesse turned around and sprinted off into the alleys, even as Maya let out a yell as she realized what was going on.

They could hear the group of bandits in hot pursuit, feet pounding on the cobblestones and creating a drum of uncoordinated rhythm that thrummed in tandem with the din in the background, ducking through roads that weren't the least bit familiar and finding corners to turn that simply didn't make sense-

Their foot shot sideways on a tile that was loose and cracked as they prepared to round a corner.

Jesse cried out as they tumbled to the ground, hands skidding over a rough patch of ground and instantly beginning to burn slightly, palms scraped and tenderized.

The bandits backed Jesse into the dead end alley almost immediately, leering down at them. At the back of the pack, Jesse could see the demon that had stopped to ask Gill and Maya for directions.

A trick.

It had all been a trick. A distraction.

They tugged their fuzzy jacket around themselves in an attempt to comfort themself.

It didn't really work.

"Well... looks like a little lost lamb got separated from the flock," the leader(? They were wearing more belts and equipment than the others, so it seemed like they were the leader) said, pouting so severely that Jesse could feel the mocking from a mile away.

They stepped forward and chucked Jesse's chin, the small human shivering and biting their lip in an attempt to stop themselves from it, tilting Jesse's head from side to side like they were inspecting a piece of meat.

Their smile widened.

"I'm in the mood for some mutton."

Jesse swallowed their whimper, trying not to shake desperately as the bandit flicked out a switchblade, tracing the very edge of the blade on their clothing. Not enough to touch, but enough for Jesse to be all-too-aware of where it was, even as it traced along their back.

"There's certain parts that we can get rid of first, though, since I know it's going to taste bad..."

The blade had circled to the back of their neck, carefully, almost teasingly starting to press into the back of their neck.

"The head's never that tasty."

Three things happened in that moment, and whenever Jesse thought back to it later they remembered it in a sequence, like a list of events.

1) The lightbulb above their head, the dim cracked lamp illuminating the alley enough for them all to see, flickered out momentarily, plunging them into darkness for a heartbeat.

2) The knife grazed the back of Jesse's neck as something shot over Jesse's shoulder, the bandit leader giving a startled _oof!_ as they were thrown backwards away from Jesse, the knife thankfully only creating a tiny scratch that Jesse only knew was there because of the tiny sting on the back of their neck.

3) The lightbulb flickered back on to reveal that the bandit leader now had someone else standing in front of Jesse, a single figure that felt almost like a solid wall guarding them from the bandits, and it wasn't someone Jesse recognized.

A man was towering over Jesse, brown hair with a few gray streaks in it. He was wearing nothing but a slightly torn blue vest on his torso, the edges of his pants fraying and old and not hiding the muddy boots he was wearing. His beard was thick and also streaked with some gray hairs. One eye gleamed red in the dim, flickering light.

The other was dead gray.

"I believe you gentlemen should be on your way now?" he asked, in a dangerously quiet voice.

The bandits, no longer smiling sinisterly, were tripping over themselves trying to get away from him, scrambling over one another as they stumbled and fell and even stepping on their comrades.

And then the alley was empty except for Jesse and the man, the flickering lightbulb above crackling as it struggled to stay lit.

He turned to look down at them, his dead eye glowing faintly in the light as well. His expression was impossible to read.

"What's a human like you doing in Cosmos?"

... Well.

They were dead.

* * *

 **A/N: hey look an update after seven years (not really)**

 **Sorry for the delay, haha. I managed to get a nice case of writer's block, plus I've been working on several other projects so it just flat out didn't occur to me to finish this chapter up.** **Projects include a Minecraft: Story Mode dating sim (cue much drawing) and this game about a doll that's been in the works since... like... possibly last year xD I'll talk more about the doll game once the official demo is out.** **Which... should be a few weeks, but :/**

 **Also, college. I'm going to college soon.**

 **... stress xD**

 **RQTC: What is one theory you would like me to confirm about this story? Or one random fact about the characters, haha. Mind you, if it's an outright spoiler, I will not confirm or deny it, so you might want to put both in just as a thing xD**

 **One random fact is that while Aiden and Lukas prefer tea, Maya and Gill prefer fruit juice.**

 **I am a Minecraft person. Reviews are my items. I almost had enough this time to fill my hotbar xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Toni42: Hehehe xD / Yep. Nothing super dramatic, lol. / Ack xD / I have no idea what it tastes like; I just know that it is apparently very good xD / Indeed, but we're making progress xD / Oof xD**

 **LegendEmpress: Too late, it's everywhere xD / It's more you don't want to know, but there's nothing really weird in there. For demons, at least. / Ah, big mood xD**

 **ThinMintE: I love dad jokes xD / That's impressive. At least you finished xD / Ahh, thank you! x3**

 **TheAmberShadow: Mmm, that's a good point. I just try to keep in mind that fanfiction exists, lol. / xD / For- _tuna_ -tely, I still have plenty to _reef_ everywhere. _Whale_ , I hope you don't mind as I _bubble_ on. / He can see pain, but he doesn't know what the reaction that Jesse has to it is; since they're still around he assumes they're fine but if it were to increase he probably would raise some concerns. / Hehe xD / It's one _hell_ of a good time. Not really xD / It's sweet, evidently xD**

 **Guest: Yeeeep xD / Indeed. / That's true! I _wave_ d that pun off a while back.**

 **Guest: This is _pun_ pletely fine, dude! I think it's a very _pun_ ny situation to be in.**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Sweet, and that's all I know about that xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	41. Jack of All Trades

Jesse swallowed the frightened lump in their throat, still staring up at the demon and, now that they weren't experiencing a bout of basically pure terror, terrifyingly aware of the feeling that someone was watching them.

( _It was starting to become normal, and yet it was just enough to set Jesse's teeth on edge._ )

"'M... I was waitin' for my friends to come back. They were goin' to look for someone," Jesse managed, trying to speak firmly but managing a whisper. "I don't know who."

The man inched closer, making Jesse hide a flinch but stay still, trying to breathe properly and kind of failing at that task. "Oh? And who are your friends?"

"The... um, the October Children," Jesse offered weakly. What else were they going to say to someone who could very easily kill them, if the way the bandits had tripped over themselves trying to get away was any indication?

They didn't know what they were expecting, but it certainly wasn't for him to straighten up in surprise, one eyebrow rising as his jaw slid slightly open, enough to show his teeth.

(Despite his intimidating demeanor, his teeth were perfectly normal- slightly crooked, but then again not everyone could have braces- and Jesse found themselves relaxing a tiny bit at the sight of almost human teeth.)

"... I see. Do you know where they are?" He asked at last, gathering himself.

Jesse shook their head, still trying to swallow back the frightened lump that was blocking their throat and threatening to turn coherent words into some weird string of babbles and stammers. "Um... they went lookin', and I got separated from Gill and Maya when the people came after me, an' then I ran off randomly..." And here they were, starting to babble.

The demon set a firm hand on Jesse's shoulder, making them start. "Whoa, calm down there. Can't have you losing it in Cosmos." He gave them a somewhat toothy smile. "You'd make an excellent delicacy even if you don't have your heart on you."

"... can you tell...?" Reuben had been with Gill and Maya, so it was true that they technically didn't have their heart on them. They'd completely forgotten that he was their vessel creature.

He shrugged. "It's pretty clear, friend. Humans have a sort of... internal light to them when they have their heart. You still have a little bit, but it's not solid enough to show that you still have your heart."

"Is it clear that I'm not a demon?"

The demon paused. "... truthfully, if no demon took a close look at your eyes, they'd imagine that you were a half-demon that was working for a lord, so it's not that clear."

"Oh." That was a relief, at least.

"Jack!"

Petra grinned and jogged up to the demon, her grin widening into a relieved smile when she saw him kneeling in front of Jesse, cutting off whatever he'd been planning to say. "Oh, awesome, you found Jesse."

'Jack' straightened up with a grin, clapping Petra on the back. "Good to see you, Petra." He glanced down at Jesse. "You're with them, too?"

Petra nodded, face sobering. "Yeah. We're looking into that... thing. I've mentioned it once or twice."

"Ah." Jack's smile faded almost immediately, his eyes flicking down to Jesse. "A favor for Romeo?"

"Yep." Petra looked down at Jesse and ruffled their hair, making them squeak in surprise and slight amusement. "Jess, this is Jack. He's my contact in Beacontown. He used to be one of the half-demons working for Fred."

Jesse started, then looked up at Jack. "You're a half-demon?"

Jack shrugged nonchalantly. "That I am. I got my heart back when Fred, ah..."

He cleared his throat. "But, uh, I figured I'd stay. Turns out I'm pretty useful as a mercenary in Cosmos." He gestured at Petra. "We've crossed paths enough to have become fairly good friends."

"Yeah, you're a pretty useful contact," Petra told him cheerfully.

He rolled his eyes and continued. "Anyways, we tend to trust each other with information that we don't trust outsiders with. Like the dilemma with the gates and such."

Jesse scrunched up their face slightly. "How do I know you're the real Jack?"

Jack barked a laugh at that, although he seemed pretty amused by the statement and not offended, which was a relief. "Oh, you're a careful one. That's good. Petra can tell."

Petra nodded, gesturing at his eye. "You've noticed how a lot of half-demons have one eye covered?" She paused, before amending, "well, minus me. I have my arm covered."

"Mmhm..."

"The short version of that," Petra continued, "is that covered bit is the most demonic part of the half-demon. Generally speaking, it's an emergency way of contacting the lord or the half-demons if all else fails, although we can really only transmit emotions or flashes of whatever sense it is."

She gestured at her face. "Eyes are preferred because even covered, you can transmit what you're seeing. Ivor picked my arm because I can transmit pain easy, so if I'm in an emergency situation that I'm not able to handle, he knows how severe it is."

Jack sent Petra a sideways look at that, but nodded. "Yes. Generally, that's the emergency contact method."

He gestured at his gray eye, and now that Jesse looked closer it looked like the iris was pupil-less, with a sort of swirling smoke in the iris and a symbol on top of it. "Mine was terminated when Fred died."

"Can you see out of it?"

(Good priorities, Jesse.)

The half-demon hummed. "Yes, but not that well. I have enough to have somewhat acceptable depth perception, but not enough to actually see if I covered my good eye."

"Oh."

Jack, taking the 'oh' as meaning this vein of conversation was satisfied, nodded and turned to Petra. "Let me guess- you need a safe place to stay the night."

"It would be appreciated," she replied, grinning at him.

He sighed- without any venom in his tone and more of a good-hearted amusement- and nodded. "I figured. Let's get you all back to the rest of your group and I'll get you into the hideout."

Jesse blinked, then looked at Petra as Jack started to lead them through the winding alleys. "The hideout?"

"Yeah. It's a nice secure place to hide for the night, so we don't have to sleep with one eye open," Petra replied, giving them a relieved smile and ruffling their hair. "And we don't have to worry about being watched or anything."

The feeling of eyes on the back of Jesse's neck prickled.

"Good," they said at last, in a tiny voice.

* * *

 **A/N: _Generally_ speaking?**

 **Huh.**

 **We're getting close to a chapter I'm somewhat dreading writing. ... oh boy.**

 **The coding of that user interface of that game has actually been completed! It looks pretty good... now to... code the rest of it, haha. I'll let y'all know when the demo is out.**

 **RQTC: Any video games you like?**

 **Fire Emblem Three Houses is... _wow_ , I lowkey love this game, haha. I think it's just the fun of being a teacher without the boring lectures, and also the fact that the story's getting interesting. (I have not gotten very far into this game but I love it fkda;)**

 **I am an apple. Reviews are the bites taken out of me. I'm being eaten AAAGH xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **ThinMintE: Amazing. You've aged beautifully. / Hehe, thank you. You're pretty pun-tastic yourself. / Hehe xD / It was Isa who tamed the horse, but it's named Fyre. The name of Jesse's branded horse is actually Draco (yes, like the Malfoy), but Bob sounds nicer and no one knows that Jesse's named Bob Bob. / Thank you xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: Nice :D / That was explained above, haha, but... might not be the full reason. / Not official official. That is to say, there is no paperwork. / _Ocean_ you glad we did a bunch of water puns? Now we can _coral_ ly (cordially) exchange puns to _sea_ how good we are at it and _tide_ over some boredom. / Yep! / Hehe xP / One alone can in fact read a map, but neither of them are very familiar with Beacontown or its layout since it's ruler-less and therefore very chaotic, so they figured two heads are better than one. But yes xD / Nope- remember, all demons have red eyes. Half-demons have at least one, and rulers have mostly red eyes with that little ring of color right around the pupil, so if it was Fred he would've had some other color to differentiate- probably amber. / Cassie's a baron (it was mentioned in an earlier chapter) so no, and as to it being one of the Underneathers, no xD **

**Darkbeast Dend: Yeah, it sucks lol / Bye!**

 **Guest: Lol, yeah. They look like an easy target.**

 **Toni42: Hehehe xD / Much pun xD / Haha, yeah. / Love you too x3**

 **That's it for now. See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	42. Greetings in Bunkers

Two.

There was a total of two people in the building (well, it seemed more like an underground bunker, but the thing was accessed by Jack punching in a code on a metal door on the side of a building that looked like it had been abandoned a few years ago (and that looked more than a little like a giant pirate ship) when they entered, looking up from what they were doing.

"Oh- h-hey, boss, uh-" A little reedy young man who looked like he couldn't have been much older than Jesse shuffled his feet and his papers upon spotting the group, adjusting glasses that looked too big for his face and made his red eyes seem even bigger than they probably were.

His skin was the shade of caramel and his neat black hair looked like it stood up on one end, minus the blue bandana tying some of it back. He was wearing a green army jacket over a black shirt and orange-red pants that looked a bit like it came from some kind of uniform. Jesse could see a vine-like tattoo creeping up his neck and maybe down his left arm.

They couldn't really see it, so it was anybody's guess as to whether or not it was actually there.

Jack chuckled and clapped the boy on the back so hard he almost knocked him over altogether. "Calm down there, Radar. This is Petra. And those are the October Children, and those are the lords of Hizelk, and this is Jesse."

He introduced them so quickly that Jesse almost didn't realize he'd said their name at the very end of it.

Radar looked slightly overwhelmed. "O- oh, Petra, and- and _all_ of the October Children, and- oh, that's Mevia, Harper, and Isa- ohh, why are they here? Are we in trouble? Why do they have a human with them?"

Their disguise must not have been as good as they thought... or maybe Radar was just particularly observant.

Jesse blinked over at him- he didn't look a day over eighteen. Maybe even sixteen.

 _Now Jesse didn't look a day over twelve, but that was a different matter altogether._

Either way, he seemed like the type of person to notice a tiny detail from ten feet away like the fact that Jesse's eyes weren't red.

So probably the particularly observant guess was correct.

"No trouble. They just need a safe place to stay for the night." Jack shrugged and gestured with his head at the door they'd just come from. "You know how... uh, _messy_ it gets at night."

The way he said _messy_ was so loaded that Jesse didn't even want to _begin_ dissecting it.

Jack nodded at the other person, who had been watching warily from where they were sitting at a table. The first thing Jesse noticed about the other man was his nose.

(And then they admonished themselves for immediately thinking 'that's a big nose'.)

It was a rather large nose, almost a little hawklike and large enough that it made his normal-sized red eyes seem dangerously small in his face. He wore a white shirt and a black hat with a red feather stuck in it and was watching from where they'd been sitting with a pen in his fingers, probably in the middle of drawing something.

"Guys, this is Nurm. My other half." Jack nodded at the other man, making Nurm smile with a nod of his own. "He's a genius with cartography."

Nurm raised his hand, folding his thumb in front of his palm, and placed it in front of his ear before extending it outward in a smooth motion- sign language for hello.

Jesse copied the sign and then added, in slightly clumsy sign language, " _My name is Jesse._ "

Nurm's smile widened at seeing their signing. He turned to Jesse slightly and signed back. " _I am Nurm. You know sign language?_ "

" _I am new to it so I might be clumsy."_ Jesse wasn't sure if that was the right symbol, but Nurm seemed to understand so perhaps it was.

He shook his head and signed some more, fluid motions that made Jesse a tad bit embarrassed of their own attempts. " _You are very good. Perhaps a bit rusty, but it's not bad._ "

 _"Fuck_ _you_."

Jesse paused as they considered what they'd just signed, then their eyes widened and they hastily flailed their hands and corrected it by, instead of doing the sign language for fuck you (fingers under the chin and somewhat flicking outward together), touched their fingers to their chin and simply extended their hand outward. " _Thank you! Thank you thank you!_

Nurm laughed at that, a slight wheezing sound that seemed to be more from the exhalation of air than anything else. He at least seemed more amused than offended by Jesse's accidentally cussing him out. Jack seemed more than a little amused as well. Harper looked like she might laugh while most everyone else looked bewildered.

"You know sign language?" Lukas asked Jesse after a moment, trying to take his attention off of Harper, who was shaking with little chuckles and shaking her head in amusement.

Jesse nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, we had someone teach us it once in school." And then they'd developed an interest in it and learned it as much as they could, but that part wasn't so important.

"Oh. So, uh... why are they laughing?" Lukas jerked his head at Harper and Jack.

"I think I remember from the one time Harper learned ASL or BSL or whatever sign language from a half-demon."

Mevia did the 'fuck you' gesture. "Jesse was probably trying to say thank you, which was this-"

She did the thank you gesture.

"- but they accidentally did the sign for 'fuck you'."

And she did the sign language for that again.

Harper burst out laughing, Jesse hiding their now-rather-pink face in embarrassment while the joke clicked for several others and they all chuckled quietly. Reuben sniggered and rubbed against their leg happily.

Gill considered this new knowledge.

Then he turned to Maya and signed " _fuck you_ " at her.

Maya signed it back.

Aiden sighed when he saw them doing it repeatedly at one another. "Well, as long as they're not bickering at each other normally, I guess."

* * *

 **A/N: I am learning some sign language :D**

 **I know the signs for wolf, fuck you, thank you, hello, and... that's it. xD I started two days ago.**

 **as of right now I'm eating fries with a fork in college.**

 **... i feel old. T^T**

 **RQTC: What is your aesthetic?**

 **Pink.**

 **Pink everywhere.**

 **I am a fry. Reviews are my ketchup-mustard-whatever-you-eat-fries-with. I am covered in it.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Toni42: oh nooooo / Hehe, Jack's one of the older ones. / His is... harder to explain xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: Nice, nice. / I dolphin (don't think) I have many more puns to make. Maybe we should change the topic of the puns so they're not as _fishy_ and I don't have to explain so much. We'll _sea_ , I guess. / Hehe xD / It's okay, don't worry 'bout it xD / Mm, that's good. / Him saying what? Sorry xD**

 **Guest: Hehe, yeah. / Usually, yes xD / Thank you!**

 **ThinMintE: Possibly! / Hehe, yeah. Draco's more temperamental than Fyre is (now), so it's kind of impressive in general. / Haha, nice. / Thank you! I'll do my best T^T**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Nice, dude.**

 **Northern Goshawk: No, that would be one I'm looking forward to xD It's, er... well, you'll see in a few chapters, I guess. / You are correct. / He's appeared now xD / I'm glad you like it! Welcome to the reviews! xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	43. Eyes on the Back of Your Head

Petra glanced down at Jesse.

"Hey, Jess. What's up?"

Jesse snuggled into Petra's side, warily eyeing the new people.

Jack had saved Jesse, of course, but their thoughts about his motivations were still as murky as a dirty fish tank.

Not to mention the feeling of eyes on the back of their neck was stronger than ever.

"Do you trust these guys...?"

Petra hummed and patted Jesse on the back. "Don't worry about 'em- Jack's a bit intimidating but he's a good guy. Well... demon," she amended, making Jesse giggle weakly.

"That's... good to know, I guess."

Petra nodded absently, leaning on the arm of her wobbly chair that was apparently more sturdy than it looked, since it wasn't falling or anything. "Yeah. I mean, we never trained together, since Fred died... _before_ I came here, but I've met him on more than one occasion. Sometimes it's quicker to go right through Beacontown than it is to just do a huge detour around it, so."

She shrugged. "It's getting better."

It really didn't look that way to Jesse, but they decided not to voice their concern about it.

The red-haired demon gave a rather luxurious stretch, like a cat, joints popping, and stood up while Jesse was pondering Petra's endorsement of Jack. "I'm gonna go shower."

"... there's a shower in here?"

Petra snorted and patted Jesse on the head. "I know it looks like we're in a bunker but you don't have to be that surprised about the shower."

And off she went to the shower, leaving Jesse to feel like something was drilling into the back of their neck.

Gill and Maya were arguing and Jesse didn't feel like interrupting their flirting. (Well, arguing, but they did it so colloquially that Jesse felt like it had to be flirting, right?) Lukas was reading a book and trying to plan something out with the other lords while Aiden was just sitting and resting.

Well, it was better than nothing.

Jesse hurried over and plopped down right next to Aiden, almost pressing up against his side. He scowled down at them but that was still better than the itchy feeling of someone _watching_ them.

"What? What do you want? I'm kinda busy. Go stick to Petra."

"Petra's showering," they informed him.

He paused, taking this new piece of information in.

"... do _not_ go stick to Petra."

Jesse couldn't help but smile at that, a little giggle sneaking out of their lips. "I'm no' sticking to Petra," they replied, still hunkered down next to him.

He sighed. "I see that. Go stick to Gill and Maya, then."

"But they're flirting with each other."

Aiden snorted, trying to avoid looking at Gill or Maya, who'd just paused in their ferocious arguing and signing 'fuck you' incessantly at one another ("Here, you want a lipstick, you bitch?" "Yeah, so I can shove the thing up your ass, prick."), and who had just sent him a very quizzical look.

If he made eye contact with them he was going to explode laughing, and that wasn't exactly helpful for helping assure everyone that nothing important had just happened.

"Uh... I guess."

He glanced down at them, practically leaning into him, and poked at them- not rudely, but still a bit gruffly. "Go bother someone else for a bit. I'm thinking."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Aiden rolled his eyes. (Well, eye, but Jesse kind of presumed he wasn't just rolling a single eye.) "What, you being my therapist today? No, I don't wanna talk about it. Go stick to someone else for now." And he nudged them away (without being as acidic as usual) to do more thinking.

Effectively thwarted in their hopeful method of sticking to someone familiar and safe to try to take their mind off the eyes on their back (and the itch to turn and look), Jesse looked around for someone else to stick close to.

And... hopefully not bother them to hell and back.

Reuben nudged them at Radar, so they shuffled over and peeked up at him.

He was a good head or two taller than them, which wasn't hard since they were stupidly short. Especially for nearly eighteen. They were barely above the height to be a legal midget.

He glanced down at them and gave them a slightly nervous smile, adjusting his glasses. "O-oh. Hey." He cleared his throat, straying a few inches away. "Is... something up?"

Jesse thought about telling him about the eyes on their back.

About the creepy, itching, crawling feeling that they'd been feeling fixed on their back since they'd walked out of the Underneath.

About seeing nothing when they turned around.

"No. Nothin's wrong."

Radar hummed absently, still shuffling some papers.

At a loss for words, Jesse pointed at the papers. "Do you do paperwork?"

Radar paused, considering the papers in his hands. "Uh... I guess so. It's mostly looking over the... 'contracts' that people form in Beacontown."

"Contracts?"

"Yeah, since we don't have a ruler as of right now and we haven't had one for a while, um, as protection or to hire people, people will set up contracts. The people who are considering signing usually come to me so I can look over them before they sign and make sure it's fair for them and there aren't any, um, loop- loopholes."

Jesse tried to get a look at the papers. Radar gently shuffled them aside.

There was probably legal jargon that they shouldn't be looking at in there, now that they thought about it.

"What kind of loopholes?"

Radar thought about it. "Uh... one contract had the signer giving their soul to the person hiring them if they ever decided to leave. It was in really tiny font, too. I almost missed it."

"... oh."

A pause.

"That'd be kind of inconvenient."

He laughed. "It'd be pretty inconvenient for the signer, yeah."

Radar gently removed his glasses, setting the (cracked) lenses in his lap and taking out a different pair that was almost identical- they just weren't broken.

Jesse looked between the glasses. "Any difference between those two?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah." Radar tapped his glasses. "These are just normal glasses. Uh, you guys have-"

"Yes, we have glasses in the human world." There _had_ to be a better name for the human world than... well, 'the human world'. The demons called the demon world 'Cosmos' and not just 'the demon world', after all.

"Okay, so these are just correctional lenses. U-um, but these-" He held up the cracked lenses and broken bridge of the glasses. "These actually help me look for things. Like... uh, well, when I'm outside, it helps me spot danger a lot quicker. But when it's with legal stuff I can spot suspicious stuff a lot easier. I dunno how to explain it, uh..." He offered the cracked glasses to Jesse.

Jesse attempted putting them on and almost immediately jerked in surprise- beyond the cloudy, muddied mess that was corrective lenses, they could barely even make out Reuben on the floor, let alone any specific words or people. "Uh... holy shit, you have bad eyes."

"Who the FUCK taught you how to swear-?" Mevia almost yelled from the other side of the room.

Radar grinned shyly and a little sheepishly. "Yep. Nobody's beat me so far in bad eyesight."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Kind of both..."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, I finished another chapter! I also have a now under Ariza Luca- I forgot to mention that last time, I think.**

 **Working on an animation meme! I also have a heckton of drawing homework but most of it's due next week so I just need to draw my sneakers today.**

 **RQTC: How's your eyesight?**

 **I'm projecting onto Radar here- I have _never_ met anyone with eyesight worse than mine. I've met someone who got close to being at my level, but my eyesight is on a whole 'nother level of _bad_. It's kind of a weird flex, but xD**

 **I am a tree. Reviews are the birds in the tree. I'm gonna lose a lot of branches to birds being too heavy, lol.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **ThinMintE: Ahaha, probably a good idea. / Indeed! / Kind of explained above, but also Jesse tends to avoid direct eye contact with other demons due to their eyes being a different color- plus they tend to keep their eyes near the floor so most people would skim over after just looking at the black and red clothes. / Mm, nice! / Thank you!**

 **Toni42: Hehehe. / I thought about the foreign language, but also I really needed an excuse to stick some sign language in here, so xD / I only know a few words. Like hello, thank you, wolf, and... well, 'fuck you' xD / aaack xD**

 **Northern Goshawk: No problem! / I swear like a demon (hehe) but I try to keep it down around kids or parental figures. Sometimes it slips out, though. / Jesse's nb for the purpose of letting you imagine whichever Jesse it is (although I personally just headcanon they're enby anyway fdka;), but I can tell you it's not soon. / Thank you!**

 **TheAmberShadow: It's going nice! / Ahahaha nice / I highly doubt that, _fire_ I've been training in the art of puns for a _berry_ long _thyme_. I have _plant-_ y of puns to draw from. / Ahhh. Yeah, that's just a coincidence. / Gonna take a while but we're working on it xD / Jesse doesn't due to their lack of red eyes, so it's easy for people to skim over. / I dunno, not the person who made sign language xD / Hehehe.**

 **Darkbeast Dend: That's nice!**

 **Guest: They're both pretty shy, haha. / Nurm is lovely. / It's easy to accidentally do 'fuck you', unfortunately xD**

 **Guest: It's not too hard, haha.**

 **That's all for this time! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	44. Forest Pathways

"You really don't have to come with us, Jack," Petra hurried to assure him, although a large part of her did seem relieved that he'd offered to come in the first place- perhaps they had something they liked talking about together that no one else did.

Either way, Jesse was kind of glad he'd offered as well.

Jack shrugged, not truly seeming to be deterred by Petra's reassurance. "I'm sure you can handle yourselves, but in the meantime I can come along." He picked up a blade and sheathed it on his back for easy reach- Jesse noticed Petra had a similar habit.

They had to wonder if that was just a normal thing; to sheathe it on your back instead of at your waist. They supposed it would be more difficult to accidentally kick.

"It's not like any of us are really busy," Jack added.

Nurm nodded and lifted his hands. " _Besides, there's a forest path that's more of a detour, but bandits are less likely to attack us in there. The trip would probably be expedited some, so we'd be able to get to Boom Town before sundown. But I'm rather familiar with it due to doing the cartography for it, so it would be best if I led the way._ "

Jesse was pondering whether or not they'd interpreted that huge word dump of signing right ( _what the heck was_ Boom _Town?_ ) when Radar spoke up, furiously polishing his cracked glasses- out of nervousness or just having... dirt on the lens.

"Uh... t-to be honest, it would- it would be nice to get out for a while. Pl-plus, if you're heading to Enchantra to talk to Ivor, it- it must be a big issue, so... um..."

He trailed off, cheeks flushing as he realized everyone was looking at him.

Jesse had to wonder how Radar knew that they were going to Enchantra to help Ivor, until they realized Mevia, Isa, and Harper had probably just told them all. Maybe they recognized Jack.

Aiden's mouth twisted to the side slightly. "... I... I guess... I guess that's true," he finally admitted, though he did seem a little wary anyway.

"So it's settled. We're coming," Jack said, smiling down at Jesse and patting their head, making them grin and try to swat him off.

Well, they could hardly complain.

* * *

The forest path _was_ quiet.

Nurm was very careful while leading them through it- something about the forest being _alive_ (well, of course it was alive, it was in full bloom and the trees certainly weren't _dead_ ) and being a bit tricky to navigate sometimes.

But Jesse not being in the lead and instead holding onto Gill's hand like a little kid being led along by an older sibling or a parent gave them plenty of time to look around and look at the forest.

Like many of the other trees in Cosmos, these didn't really look normal- the leaves weren't green (they were a dull shade of pink-red), but the trunks were striped brown, like a cat with stripes.

A few were spotted like someone had thrown cinnamon at it, and Jesse couldn't help but listen to the breeze in the trees waft through and send a scent that was reminiscent of cinnamon and vanilla through the air.

Though to be fair, after Aiden's comment about plants being carnivorous and/or poisonous, Jesse was a bit leery about getting too close to them.

"Let's take a break- you need to give Romeo a report," Isa said abruptly, making Jesse run into Gill's back as they all came to a grinding halt.

Aiden gave a long-suffering groan. "Are you kidding?"

"No. He called me- us," Isa amended after a moment, "last night at one in the morning and asked for a report. You should be giving him one at _least_ every time you end up in a new city, young man."

"Yeah, yeah..."

With that, everyone split up and moved to sit and rest. Radar, who was a little reedy and not terribly muscled, seemed like he was having the worst of the time- although even he just plopped down out of breath, sweat beading on his forehead and his cheeks a little flushed as he moved to take off his jacket.

Maya and Gill, who'd been griping quietly at each other, split off to go argue some more, and Petra leaned on Lukas's back, while Lukas leaned on Aiden, as Aiden began to make the call.

Truthfully, Aiden seemed a little annoyed, but he also just grumbled mildly at them to 'please not do that' while making the call- a testament as to how much he liked them.

So it was after a while, after Aiden had managed to open the connection and after the lords moved off to talk to themselves, Harper happily talking with the lords in a voice too low for Jesse to hear, Jesse realized that Reuben wasn't there.

It took a moment to realize, because of course the others were all chattering away and bickering with one another, and they were so used to the little piggy just sitting pressed up against their leg or in their lap and just snuffling against their chest happily, listening to Jesse breathe and giggle and sigh periodically.

But here they were, sitting and listening to Aiden gripe with Romeo through the mirror over the report while Radar muffled laughter as Maya mocked him behind the mirror, moving her hand in such a way that it looked like someone was talking, without the little piggy anywhere in sight.

Gill, despite his constant griping with Maya, looked quite amused about the argument.

Jesse looked over at Aiden, who was in the midst of the conversation, trying to get to the point while Romeo just (playfully?) told Aiden that he had to call him more ("I'm getting a bit tired of getting all the information from the other lords, you know- there's a reason I gave you the mirror"), and Maya mocking Romeo, and Lukas and Petra seemed to be trying to knock Aiden to the floor, and Mevia and Harper and Isa talking with Jack and Radar about something, while Nurm continued to look his map over.

They were all busy enough.

Reuben couldn't have gone far, right? He'd only been there a moment ago.

They got up and slipped into the trees, carefully looking around.

Carefully ignoring the eyes on the back of their head.

"Reuben?" they called, looking through sunlight sending spatters of funny-colored beams of light onto the forest floor, a pile of green leaves (according to Aiden the local Cosmos botanist, when it was fall, the leaves were green) up to their ankles as they shuffled through the forest. "You there?"

There was a distant kind of oink.

"Reuben!" Jesse followed the sound of the piggy, being sure to dig their heel into the dirt or to stick a green leaf into a bit of bark on the trees so that they can keep track of where they are- the last thing they need is to get lost and worry everyone else. "Where'd you run off to, buddy?"

They were more amused than anything- had he smelled a potato or something?

Did demons even have potatoes in Cosmos?

The amusement faded as they rounded a corner and found a little patch of grass that was rustling. Reuben's pink face peeked through, the little piggy trembling.

Afraid.

Something gripped Jesse even as they barely managed to process the fearful look on his face, the panicked squeal, the way that he was huddling back against a tree-

And then abruptly a hand was clapping over their mouth and their nose and hauling them back a step or two, hard enough that their skull bashed into a chest.

There was a funny scent- perfume? They try to figure out the scent but it's overpowering and sweet and honestly, it's making them dizzy.

This is familiar.

Why is this perfume familiar?

Reuben squealed in panic as Jesse furiously kicked, lifted their feet off the ground, clawed at whoever was now cutting off all access to air as they squirmed, tried to scream through the hand even as something in their foggy head noticed that Reuben was tied to a tree.

They didn't succeed.

Their lungs started screaming, begging for air as they jerked and kicked.

There was a soft, warm chuckle.

They recognized that voice, something dull clicking into place in the back of their head like a lock clicks shut, but past the fog starting to fill their head they couldn't have pinpointed it in a million years.

"Oh, hush, little one. You'll need your rest."

Lips tickling their ears as black spots began to drown their vision.

"We're going to have quite some fun."

And Jesse went under before they could scream.

* * *

 **A/N: Uh.**

 **Welp.**

 **There IS actually something in the chapter that should tell you who that voice belongs to. I wonder... when has Jesse smelled perfume before?**

 **On a good note I updated really quick xD**

 **RQTC: Any questions about Cosmos that I haven't answered in the story? If it's something I'm answering in a later chapter I'll just tell you so.**

 **Clearly I don't have questions myself, so here's my 'answer': Cosmos is kinda roughly (very roughly) shaped like a diamond.**

 **I'm a donut. Reviews are my frosting. I am a chocolate frosted donut. (Or something. I dunno. xD)**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **TheAmberShadow: . I'm not sure how to explain that jfk;da / It's about one inch for me and then bluuuur xD / I _sap_ pose that's good. You'd better _tree_ at me nicely- I've been doing a lot to pre _pear_ , but I guess I could always _bee_ bad at it. / True xD / It's not that. / Hehehehe xD / It does! / It's not ON Earth, but it's also not like Cosmos is a different planet. / Lol, Mevia's like that.**

 **Toni42: Too late xD / Hehehe / Yeah, he does it pretty often in Jupin. Less so in other districts since they've got a lord to keep stuff like that in check. / Big oof xD**

 **bungaMawar001: Welcome to the story! My eyes are EXACTLY that bad. We're tied xD I think one eye is like... infinitesimally better, but that's not that helpful. There is a reason nobody I've met has come close to me in terms of bad eyesight.**

 **Northern Goshawk: No problem! Jesse's nonbinary to let the reader imagine what they are anyway- although I may eventually just flat-out make them nonbinary. / Nope. / Hehe / It's not Fred- it's something that's specific to the October Children and Petra. Not explaining why, though xD / Thank you!**

 **ThinMintE: Haha, yeah. / Lol, people do that with me. I can see shapes, but if you were to hold up a notebook that had big letters written on it that might be a bit much to ask. / Ah, nice!**

 **Idontwritetoomuch: Love your username xD / Oooof, we don't like that. xD / Ahhh thank you! I'm really glad you like them.**

 **Guest: Hehe / I mean, they did save his life. He's still being a little grouch around them though xD / They are! / Um... nope. xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

Reuben stayed, huddled down against the tree and feeling Jesse grow farther and farther away. But he was okay. Right? He was a part of Jesse, and so long as he was okay, so were they.

Maybe.

Maybe.

He had to get someone.

With a determined little oink as Reuben clambered onto shaky little legs and snapped the rope keeping him tied to the tree with surprisingly sharp teeth, he galloped back through the trees to the camp.

He had to find someone to save Jesse.

The clearing was empty as the forest shifted its roots and branches to let the sun through again, the whispering in the wind of a breeze slipping through branches sounding like real whispers.

Perhaps of the trees themselves.

Perhaps of spirits like druids and dryads, keeping their voices low and gentle to avoid being overheard.

Perhaps of the trees realizing what a horrible, horrible mistake they had made.


	45. Perfectly Terrifying, Scarily Demonic

_**MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER.**_

 **Most of this story has been Teen rated- for both AO3 and FFN. This marks the one and only time two separate versions of chapters will be posted. This chapter is the _sole_ reason that I have decided recently to mark the AO3 version as mature. It is incredibly dark and you _cannot and should not_ read this chapter on AO3 if you are _under eighteen years of age._ If you are _not eighteen years of age or uncomfortable with the following subjects_ :**

 _ **Rape/Sexual Assault, graphic violence and death**_

 _ **DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER ON AO3.**_

 **The Fanfiction version is clean and appropriate for teen-and-up audiences with less intense/censored versions of the subjects above. Please exercise caution while reading this chapter and switch sites at your discretion if you are uncomfortable.**

* * *

Jesse felt cloudy.

That was a weird thing to say ( _well, think_ ), but their mind felt like a fog had taken over it, and so cloudy sounded accurate. Were they still in the forest? Maybe they were. The ground felt soft. They must have fallen asleep...

Someone had been there. Someone had grabbed them and smothered them before they could cry out for help. They opened their mouth to scream for help.

All that came out was a croak. Their vocal cords punishing them for the deprivation of oxygen earlier.

"Oh... good. You're awake."

The familiar voice was back. Jesse blinked as hard as they could, clearing their vision until their eyes were fixed on the woman above them- for it was a woman's voice, except warm and laced with honey and sugar, and her long black hair surrounded her face and her red eyes gleamed iridescent colors and her perfume-

The memory clicked into place.

"S... Sirena?"

"Mmhm." Sirena smiled, a perfect, toothy bright kind of smile that was almost contagious.

It was almost contagious, because Jesse almost forgot the fog drowning them, and almost could forget the fact that they couldn't breathe, and almost- _almost_ forgot that they were in danger, and so they _almost_ smiled back, until they remembered the fact that they were limp on the ground with a croaking voice and a rubbery feeling overtaking their limbs.

What did she want?

Her eyes bored into their skin.

Eyes on the back of their head.

Something, in the far back of their mind, screamed that they were in danger, that they'd been in danger for a very long time, as the pieces of the puzzle clicked together and slotted into perfect fits-

And Jesse could only breathe in as they realized.

"... you..."

Sirena gave a dramatic sigh and plopped down beside Jesse, playing with their overall strap and making chills run up Jesse's spine as their eyes fell on the motion and found themselves unable to tear their eyes from her hand. "You know, you were _really_ hard to get alone. I thought I'd _never_ get you alone, you know?"

She trailed delicate fingers up their stomach, doing a playful little action until her fingers were caressing their cheek (an unfamiliar touch and a frightening chill), her nose almost touching theirs, red eyes _glowing_ with excitement.

"Humans taste the best... and you know, that applies with succubuses too."

Sirena forced her mouth onto Jesse's lips, and it took them a whole minute, a whole _several minutes_ for their brain to process what was happening to them.

She was kissing them.

She was _kissing them._

" _Let's just have some fun._ "

Jesse finally cried out as the full impact of what was happening hit them, trying to jerk away from her, but Sirena cupped them closer, pressing against them longer, harder. They felt oddly weak in her grip, the scent of something pleasant ( _and yet sickeningly sweet, so sickeningly sweet that Jesse choked on it and felt it smothering every last breath_ ) entangling long fingers around their throat and their lungs.

" _Alright?_ "

They were growing weaker.

They couldn't have said why, not through this fog pulling them under.

Sirena gave a low, husky chuckle as she pulled away, licking her lips absently and tracing delicate fingers on their collarbone. "Oh, _my_... you're not half _bad_ at this." She tutted gently. "You had me fooled, Jesse. I mean, seventeen and you're already _this_ good at kissing?"

She looked better, less dark circles and the gauntness- despite her face still looking near flawless even with the gaunt, thin quality to it, she looked better now.

Succubus.

She was draining them.

She was draining them, and taking... whatever it was that she wanted for herself.

And they were too weak and dazed to do anything. What was _in_ her perfume? God, they could fight back, they could scream and run and fight-

And then she gripped their wrist in an iron grip and ice gripped their heart and refused to let it go.

"Sto- stop-" they rasped, fear making their tongue swollen and heavy and clumsy.

Sirena chuckled, as if they were a silly little kid that had made a stupid little suggestion. "Oh... you _silly_ , silly human."

She leaned closer, lips brushing their ears in a flirtatious way and sending an ice dagger into their spine. "Why would I _ever_ do that when I'm feeling _so_ much better?"

Sirena kept a dazed Jesse on her lap, gently running her long nails down their chest, scratching, scratching against the overalls and their shirt. With expert care, she cupped them closer and pressed her mouth to Jesse's again, ignoring the way they twitched and jerked in an attempt to free themselves.

 _No_

Then her lips were opening, forcing their own mouth open in the kiss.

 _No no no_

Her tongue entered their mouth, slimy like a slug that was just crawling in without permission, and Jesse almost immediately gagged.

Jesse almost writhed in her grip in an attempt to get away, but she just clung harder and pressed harder and closer and _god_ , they were choking, they weren't able to _breathe_ right now, her tongue was almost halfway down their throat-

 _God no no no no no_

They tried to jerk out of her grip, even as they felt energy-

Energy? No, it was something else, but it was draining them and they could barely breathe _they couldn't **breathe**_

" _This is happening too fast._ "

Jesse thrashed, giving a desperate kind of scream, but their mind was fogged over and too easy to bend and mold and change, like she was playing with putty, and she put an end to that by forcing her lips onto theirs, almost biting down on their bottom lip and releasing a coppery taste in their mouth- blood?

" _I don't wanna do this anymore._ "

Jesse almost convulsed in her grip as she slowly played with their collar, almost teasing them, except this kind of teasing wasn't nice, it wasn't friendly like the October Children-

They were scared.

They were terrified and they were scared and they wanted to get out of here.

" _I don't care._ "

They couldn't.

Jesse gave a weak little twitch, trying to jerk back when they felt her tongue invading them, but she was pinning them down and terror was icing their blood and their head and they couldn't move.

They were stuck.

"Duh... don't-" Jesse choked as she took the opportunity of their lips being parted open to force her tongue into their mouth again and almost down their throat, slimy from saliva and oh _god_ this was disgusting, they were being violated, they had never wanted this to happen again, they'd _never ever ever wanted this to happen ever again_ -

She ran her tongue down their cheek, leaving saliva and drool on their skin, and then fixed her lip on theirs, crushing her lips against theirs and making the force on their mouth intensify until it was crushing, agonizing and painful and oh _god,_ something was draining out of them, something that they couldn't pinpoint but they were gasping for breath and trying to blink black spots out of their eyes, shaking hard like a leaf in a windstorm.

"Mmnn, you _do_ make a good meal," came her sickeningly _delighted_ voice through their haze as she pulled away, breathless through the black spots dancing in Jesse's eyes. "I might just eat-"

Jesse gave a strangled, silent scream that made their throat feel as though she'd jabbed them with daggers as she almost touchingly rubbed her thumb over numb, bruised(?) lips.

"- you _all_ up. I haven't had enough sexual energy to last me for _ages_... and you're barely touched."

Jesse was shaking harder now, trying to jerk away from her, but her lips fixed on theirs and they could feel more and more strength seep out of them like water dripping through a sieve.

There was a humming sound- the sound of metal flying through the air, and Jesse had heard that sound before but through the fog and the terror drowning them they couldn't have said where it was from-

A spray of blood.

Sirena's scream tore through silent air as she was thrown sideways, leaving the skin where she'd been pressing into and refusing to leave alone icy cold, along with the rest of them, their skin goosebumpy and their limbs feeling like limp rubber appendages glued to their body. Hot blood felt like splatters of acid on their skin.

The bloody bladed whip, glowing red in the setting sun behind them from both the shade of the sky and the blood dripping off the blades, flicked up into the air.

Jesse's head was starting to unfog, now that the perfume wasn't two inches from them and flooding their head, their chest heaving as they tried to breathe and take it in, trembling and trembling and unable to move.

Again.

 _Again_.

It had happened again.

Jesse gave a weak, choking gag and lifted their eyes.

Just in time to see Aiden flick the bladed whip downwards.

They closed their eyes.

But it didn't stop them from feeling splatters of burning hot blood from hitting them through their shirt and their clothes and god, her blood was on them.

* * *

 **A/N: This scene has been planned since the start of the story, although I will admit that I spent a lot of time struggling to find any way the sideplot and main plot could work without this scene, as I did not want to write it. I won't say why this scene would affect the sideplot or the main plot, as that would ruin a good chunk of one of this story's sideplots and part of the main plot as well, but this is my reassurance that I did _not_ write this scene on a whim or just because I felt like it. To be honest, I spent a long time procrastinating on even getting started on this chapter, and only recently decided to release them quickly so I could get it over with.**

 **If it seems like I wrote the chapter without handling it very well or respectfully, I'm _incredibly_ sorry- that was definitely not my intention, and I did my best to express the terror going along with it, but since I've been fortunate enough to never have to experience something like this, I'm fully ready to admit that I may have gotten details inaccurate or portrayed them disrespectfully by accident. **

**If I've offended you in some way or it seems disrespectful in some way, please PM me on Fanfiction (or, if you are on AO3, comment or message if AO3 allows that) so that I may correct it immediately. Once again, if I've somehow portrayed whatever you've read as disrespectful, I'm really sorry, and I will do my best to immediately amend it.**

 **No RQTC or anything for this chapter.**

 **Responses to reviews are below.**

 **bungaMawar001: Not exactly. My hint for who it was (Sirena was a succubus who appeared in Chapter 3) was related to the perfume. If you refer to Chapter 3, you'll see the way that I described the perfume was virtually the same.**

 **Northern Goshawk: Jesse has very bad luck, evidently. / Yeah. Yeah, someone will probably die. / Hm.**

 **Happygoluckymegami: Chapter 3, but you were close. / No, it would not be Stella. You were correct.**

 **CrazyNinjagoFan1: If you mean Sirena, you were correct. / Well, Reuben got someone.**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Mm.**

 **Toni42: They will indeed. / It wasn't a guy. / Thanks, bear. / I do like writing interactions. / ...**

 **ThinMintE: Jesse's a little oblivious sometimes. / Thank you. This was why, though, so that's not great. / Okay. / Thank you.**

 **That's all for now. I'll see you next update. Once again, if I offended anybody or treated this scene disrespectfully in any way, please let me know immediately, and I'm extremely sorry.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	46. Comfort (Attempt)

Aiden was breathing heavily, looking down at the corpse at his feet.

A moment later, his eyes trailed from Sirena's dead body (Jesse spotted a glimpse of wide open eyes from her severed head and squeezed their eyes shut) over to the shaking, weak little human a few feet away. Goosebumps stood out on their skin so much that Jesse could've run their fingers over their arm and felt each little individual bump.

His shoes clopped through blood and gore, and Jesse fully expected him to yell at them, yell at them and ignore the fact that they were barely _wearing_ anything anymore while being sprawled helplessly on the ground, yell at them for getting lost, for being a nuisance, for causing trouble for them all _again_ -

A hand (slightly sticky with blood) gently slid behind their shoulders and eased them up into a sitting position, before something heavy draped around their shoulders.

Jesse let their eyes eke open to see that he'd taken off his leather jacket and adjusted it over them. Considering how much tinier they were, it did end up covering a lot, so Jesse drew it around them and shivered.

"Are you alright?" Aiden, rather than snapping and sniping at them, sounded a little concerned.

Jesse drew in a shuddering breath and mopped at their face, tears still leaking out of their eyes periodically. "Y... yeah..."

"Bullshit." He didn't sound annoyed when he said that, just as though he were stating a matter of fact. "Sirena just made you..."

He trailed off, glancing at the dead body, before shifting so they couldn't see it- perhaps remembering the last time he'd beheaded someone. (He hadn't done it since.)

"... well, you know."

Jesse just shivered a little, wiping at their eyes. The jacket was warm, since he'd just been wearing it, and did a lot to hide the way they were shaking like a leaf clinging onto a branch in a windstorm.

Aiden had walked off, leaving Jesse to see Sirena's body from where he'd been blocking her from sight. They closed their eyes and pressed their face to their knees, feeling tremors run through their arms and legs and face.

A moment later, he was pressing their fuzzy jacket and their overalls and shirt into their arms in a little ball. Jesse accepted the ball and held them close to their chest, still shaking.

"I'll keep a lookout. Get changed," he told them- as if they had anything to really _change_ , as if they were wearing something and they were merely swapping out clothing.

Regardless, they swallowed bile and hastily began to tug their clothes on into the proper places like they were a dressup doll, under the leather jacket the whole time. Aiden had respectfully turned around and was carefully scanning the treeline.

Reuben nosed his way into their arms and snuffled once they'd managed to get their clothes on and not put their head and one arm through the hole meant for the head. They gratefully pulled him close and pressed their face to the little pig's back, listening to him snuffle and breathe quietly.

Aiden peeked through his fingers. When it was clear they were done changing, he turned around.

Jesse assumed to grab his jacket, but instead he just picked them up and started to tote them along like they were a baby, jacket still wrapped around them.

(They were unsure of whether or not to be relieved that he could carry them without griping about how damn heavy they were, or to be embarrassed at the fact that he was just carrying them like a baby.)

"Hey, uh, on the bright side though, it seems like you can resist succubi."

Jesse looked up at him.

Taking it as confusion, he cleared his throat and made a little shrugging gesture. "I mean, you know, succubi usually... _make_ you want to fuck with them, so the fact that you didn't is, uh, good– I mean it's not _good_ but in the grand scheme of things we're not gonna have to worry about you just waltzing off with a succubus to– well, you know– yeah."

He was surprisingly awkward, his tongue sounding thick and clumsy in his mouth until he just closed it, cheeks flushing slightly as his red eyes (well, the eyepatch hid the other one, but Jesse assumed it wasn't just moving freely on its own) flickered off to the side and away from them.

He usually was a lot more snippy with them.

Jesse reached out and latched onto him, shaking, and clinging to him much like a baby koala would cling to their mother.

Reuben snuffled quietly from where he'd been nicely squashed between the two, like the filling in some kind of ice cream sandwich or something.

Aiden was quiet. Jesse half expected him to drop them.

Instead he reached up and gave them a brusque little pat on the back, two little pats that left a warm feeling where his hand had been for less than a second.

"Um. Yes. Hello. It's– hey, it's fine, okay..." He sounded _really_ awkward now, but still trying as hard as he could– despite how he usually snapped at them like a snapping turtle (like the one under the bridge at school that Jesse had heard a lot of students jokingly call 'Bitch')– to not snap at them, to not be rude to them.

In fact, almost to comfort them.

They couldn't help it– they started crying into his shoulder.

He stiffened.

Then he wrapped his arms around them tighter in a kind of hug and continued walking with them ensnared in his grip, muttering quiet things to them.

They could barely hear it over their quiet little sobs, but they caught something about 'you'll be okay' and 'kinda wish I left her alive so the others could take turns, but oh well' (which was oddly comforting in itself, and Jesse didn't have the mental capacity at the moment to dissect why) and 'Romeo kinda ordered us to come find you when Reuben came in screaming like a little demon' (which Jesse just found weirdly funny, to think of Reuben 'screaming', but also because Aiden himself was a demon and so describing something as 'a little demon' just felt weird to Jesse).

The trees were deathly silent. Listening to his rambling murmurs. Listening to Jesse sob quietly into his shoulder, scared and small and abused.

That feeling of eyes boring into their neck no longer present.

* * *

 **A/N: We actually have snapping turtles under a bridge (along with normal turtles) at college. One is named Bastard, and the other is named Motherfucker Unlimited (I just call it Bitch because that's shorter, lol).**

 **Hey, Aiden is nice this time around! Probably 'cause Jesse was just traumatized.**

 **Okay back to fluff, angst, and probably a lot of scrambling around to not die next chapter, lol.**

 **Oh, small plug for a game that's not mine– if you like Danganronpa-like games (trials, executions, mystery solving) minus the murder and the really really absurd executions, you should play "Your Turn to Die: Death Game by Majority." I really like it. Characters are fun, it's free... and also the puzzles are great. xD**

 **RQTC: Who is your favorite celebrity/actor/actress from a video game?**

 **Ashley Johnson. (Petra, Ellie from the Last of Us, Gortys from Tales of the Borderlands... yeah xD) Patton Oswalt was second (Jesse said trans rights, you guys!) but I just really like her. She's got a good voice. And dang she can sing xD**

 **I am a cup. Reviews are orange juice. I now am a cup of orange juice. xD**

 **Responses to reviews– thank you for not demanding that my head be put on a stick for the last chapter, by the way.**

 **Happygoluckymegami: Ooof, alright. / Well, she got her head cut off, so... xD**

 **Toni42: Thanks, bear. But oof, yeah xD / Nyeh**

 **TheAmberShadow: Ah, found the problem– FFN doesn't really like the name apparently so I have a site where you can support me- it's the one with an orange and white P as a logo xD / Oh _deer_ , I have to _quest_ ion the safety of this battle now. (There were more puns but FFN pulled a deletus on me) / I think so, yeah. / Yep! Although Redstonia isn't NEXT next. / Unless they only recognized the name; not everyone meets everyone's contracted humans. Fred is also the type of person to be more polite about showing their face on 'camera'. / Kind of. / Nope, you were close, though. / It's kinda implied that the trees have dryad spirits that can be influenced by succubi. / Mm, yeah.**

 **Northern Goshawk: Don't worry about it, dude, that's the entire point of the trigger warning! That should be the darkest chapter so you should be okay with the rest of this story. / Yay, Aiden. / Yeah... / You didn't offend me, don't worry about it.**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Yeah... that should be as dark as it gets.**

 **Guest: Not sure what that means, but thank you I guess xD**

 **Guest: Yeah...**

 **That's all for now! See you, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	47. Boom Town's Nicer Neighborhood

Aiden didn't really know how to handle Jesse at the moment.

He could handle them crying.

(By either snapping at them to stop or just patting them on the back and muttering the best comfort he could, which... wasn't all that comforting.)

He could handle them scared.

(By again snapping at them or just comforting them the best he could.

Actually, he was just bad at comforting Jesse in general, so maybe that was his problem. They seemed too young to be seventeen. Actually, maybe his problem was that he wasn't good with kids.

Then again Radar was fine with him... but then again Radar was sixteen and thus a teenager.)

And Jesse _had_ been scared, and they _had_ been crying.

Except by the time they'd gotten back to the others, Jesse had just drawn themselves into a silent, dark little place.

Harper had scooped them out of Aiden's arms (he'd seen her face tick, change as she scooped them into her arms, but she said nothing and just carried them over to a corner) to wrap them in a blanket and murmur things to them. Reuben had whined a little bit.

And Jesse had said nothing.

Just hugged their knees and rocked back and forth silently with the blanket around them, a mess of tear-stains on their face and big sad eyes that were hollow and glazed and almost _empty_ , which seemed to be worrying everyone.

Sure, Jesse didn't SEEM like they were going crazy or anything, which was great. Aiden could handle scared or awkward or crying.

Crazy was... less handleable.

But they'd still trapped themselves into a dark place.

No speaking.

No smiling.

( _No pretending they were okay, smiling up at the others with a crooked little smile that just didn't look quite right._ )

No Jesse.

And Jesse (the shy, quiet, strange bubbly thing that was Jesse) remained missing all the way up until they reached Boom Town.

* * *

Boom Town was... well, it was Boom Town.

Sure, there was the nice addition of the safe zone– generally the area around where the baron would live, but Magnus was apparently crazy and lived in the giant obsidian (was it obsidian? Aiden really couldn't tell) spire with the center blown out, rather than in the safe zone.

Instead, the safe zone was just a small collection of houses with little communal beds and bathrooms that nothing violent could happen in.

Literally. You couldn't use magic in the safe zone.

Or weapons.

Or TNT.

It just flat out wouldn't light or do anything, and weapons either wouldn't work (in the case of Aiden's, the whip wouldn't come out) or just bounced off like it was made of rubber.

Lukas and Maya figured it was an enchantment going on and had once devolved into discussing what kind of enchantment would disable the lighting of TNT, the usage of weapons, AND magic in a certain area. They'd come to a consensus that it was probably a large multitude of enchantments.

That being said, Aiden had barely listened after the first twenty seconds, and he still didn't know if that was actually the reason for it. Isa sure never said, although she was hardly an expert on magic herself.

"Alright, for courtesy's sake," Petra said, shooting the little still ball that was currently Jesse a worried look, "we should try to say hello to Magnus. It's just... more polite."

Lukas shifted his weight. "Do we have to? I mean..."

He glanced at Jesse, concern writing itself over his face. "I'm sure Magnus would understand if we didn't. He's a pretty isolated guy, anyway."

"Yes, but we made the trouble of saying hello to Soren; we might as well say hello to Magnus too," Maya pointed out as Mevia gave Jesse's back a somewhat kind rub.

"Plus you get to hang out with me and that's kinda cool, right?"

Petra actually jumped; then spun around and punched the large male that had just materialized behind her.

She was still grinning widely, though.

"Holy fuck, you can't _do_ that, Axel!"

The boy chuckled. His eyes were the darkest shade of red Aiden usually saw on demons, to the point of almost being brown, and his black hair was as short and messy as ever. He'd changed from a hoodie with a white scarf (Maya had pointed out that it would stain easily. Axel, at the time, had retorted that it would look cool with bloodstains on it, and that was apparently that.) to a black t-shirt with a skull on it and a red-and-black flannel, as well as brown shorts. He was easily taller than Petra and Gill, and _definitely_ taller than Jesse.

And probably heavier than Lukas, Petra, and Gill combined, although most of it was from muscle.

"Sorry, man. You know that's just my thing."

Aiden sighed and rolled his eyes, although he was smiling faintly. "I still don't get how you manage to sneak up on us when you're heavier than an elephant."

Axel punched Aiden on the shoulder, resulting in a quiet "ouch". "I still don't get how you manage to be totally unsubtle despite looking like a stick insect," he replied, although the insult seemed more amused than anything.

He bowed to the lords upon spotting them, doing the usual courtesies in his clumsy way, before he straightened back up and noticed the tiny ball of human crouched on the bed with their vessel creature from where Mevia, who'd taken them from Harper (with much arguing between the two) for a good majority of the trip there.

"Aw, dude, you're super cute." Axel reached out and ruffled Jesse's hair.

He probably meant it as a light, gentle gesture, but Axel patting you gently could really just feel like he was clapping you on the back as hard as someone humanly could, so Jesse got rattled around a little bit.

It did seem to startle them enough that they were taken out of the dark place they'd drawn themselves into for the past few days, and they lifted their head to look at him, blinking big green eyes.

Reuben perked up, rubbing his little pink head against their leg. Harper seemed faintly relieved herself, but it was pretty hard to read her facial expressions sometimes. Isa breathed a quiet sigh of relief, though, so Aiden could assume all of the lords were relieved that Jesse hadn't just gotten stuck in that dark place.

"Oh... mm... thank you," Jesse replied, meekly.

Axel grinned even wider and crouched down so he was more on eye level with them. "Oh man. You're adorable."

He spotted their eyes after a moment, and his smile widened– not in a predatory way, just... almost excited. Aiden could see Axel's eyes sparkling. "No wonder the lords are keeping a human around; you're way too cute to eat."

Maya winced, but Jesse thankfully didn't take offense or get traumatized ( _they'd been too traumatized already_ ). They just blinked in faint surprise at him.

"Um... thank... thank you... um..." They seemed to be searching for some semblance of a compliment to reciprocate to what must've been like a giant randomly appearing to talk to them.

Finally, they settled on, "You're... um... you look like a teddy bear."

Petra had to hastily rescue Jesse from being plucked right into the air like they were a doll by a rather excited Axel at this compliment.

* * *

 **A/N: Heyo presto we've met Axel.**

 **He really likes Jesse xD**

 **Inktober is interesting. I'm doing the list of MCSM prompts, rather than the given list of prompts... it's nice. xD**

 **My college dorm room has been decked out with lots of interesting thing for Halloweens. Including some stains on the ceiling from my roommate putting some fake blood window decal on the ceiling and then... yeah, it seeped into the ceiling. xD**

 **RQTC: Are you dressing up on Halloween? If so... who or what are you dressing up as?**

 **I actually want to keep mine a surprise for the most part; if you want you can go on Tumblr on the 31st and see the picture I post. Or Twitter. xD**

 **I am paper. Reviews are ink. I'm drenched. xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Northern Goshawk: A little bit, but he's not going to be very obvious about it xD / They have come up. xP / Two reasons: 1, Jesse is asexual. Thus any charms that succubi try to or inadvertently give off (like Stella) are basically ineffective on them. 2, there is some _heavy_ implication in early chapters that Jesse has been, um, violated before, and has PTSD from that. Thus sexual advances are... yeah, they don't like those. / Thank you!**

 **bungaMawar001: Yeah... / Heh, yeah. He's doing his best. / Ahaha, yeah. He's more of a 'kill people' person, not... 'I'm going to be super caring and soft.'**

 **Guest: Hehe.**

 **DarkbeastDend: Thank you.**

 **HappygoluckyMegami: Yeah, he gave it a go. / Tara Strong's neat, yeah. Did you know Mevia's voice actress actually Shandra Jiminez (that reporter lady) in Gravity Falls?**

 **TheAmberShadow: Hehe. / _Control_ your temper, there's _alt_ ernate ways to _delete_ your anger for this site. Let's _get with the program_ and _update_ our thoughts for this website. / He's trying. xD / Hehe. / Oh, you bet.**

 **Toni42: He tries xD / They're gonna do their best, but humans don't handle stuff like that as well. Especially Jesse. / nyaaaaah**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	48. Boom Town's Less-Nice Neighborhood

Jesse wasn't sure how to feel about the giant (well, he wasn't really a giant, but to someone of their stature it wasn't a far stretch) currently carrying them on his back.

Axel was really quite friendly and... okay, he was a tiny bit hyper. He'd almost insisted on carrying Jesse, plopping them on his shoulders and then taking off at a dead run like a horse.

(Jesse had nearly fallen off, to Lukas's horror and Petra's slight amusement and mostly horror.)

At least he was letting Jesse huddle onto him now as he led the way to the giant tower with a spire blown out. It was like hugging a teddy bear. Especially with the flannel.

Man, the flannel was cozy. Jesse half-wished they had their own, but the fuzzy jacket had an appeal.

He was chatting cheerfully to the October Children as they strolled– something about Magnus having helped him make a firework display recently for the town's celebration of something– Jesse couldn't catch it.

Boom Town was interesting. They were still shaky, but they peeped around at all of the ruined buildings. Most of them were still intact, or as intact as they could be, with huge holes blasted in the walls and sections of the roof splintered and broken.

There were very few people simply sitting around– Jesse saw one person running after another toting sticks of lit dynamite and yelling at him, there was another throwing chicken eggs at people (Isa scowled at that), and another who almost singed Mevia's robe with a well-tossed stick of dynamite.

It looked a little like a country town– or something from the Old West with taller buildings, except half blown-to-bits and very disorganized besides.

They'd gotten a good portion of the way to the spire, in a small area ringed by houses and pitted with craters, when someone stepped in front of Axel, making him come to a rather abrupt halt.

"Heya big guy. How you doin'?"

Jesse peeked over Axel's shoulder as unobtrusively as possible. A girl with hair that was dyed dark blue shifted to her right, one hand on her hip as she grinned at Axel from behind her mask. Her front tooth had a big chip in it, and her red eyes glinted as she took in the group. Three lords, the October Children, Petra...

Her eyes raised to Axel's and Jesse hastily shrank away.

The last thing they needed was to be found out as a human.

Axel's pleasant smile fell, and he gave a long-suffering sigh. "Sorry, Nohr, I'm busy."

"Yeah, escortin' three lords and the friggin October Children. Plus you got a kid on your back," Nohr said casually, flailing her hand carelessly at the lords and in Jesse's direction.

They shrank down more.

Mevia rolled her eyes. "Yes, because it's _customary_ to escort a lord to their new location. It's being polite. You should try it sometime," she snarked back.

Isa covered her mouth, looking like she was politely coughing, but when she removed her hand her lips were curved up into a grin.

"Oh yeah? And I guess it's customary to usher 'round the October Children and the August Girl, too. Invite 'em over for tea, too." Nohr burst into derisive laughter. "Nah, dude, we kinda wanna have some fun. Never griefed a lord before."

Aiden's hand tightened on the handle of his whip protectively. "You think you can _seriously_ get the upper hand on the three lords who are basically connected mentally?" He scoffed, shaking his head. "You're _really_ in over your head."

Nohr just smiled and mock-politely gestured around her. "Well, not by _myself_ , obviously. But people can only handle a certain amount of numbers..."

Slowly, as if on cue, several griefers had turned to look at them. Almost the entire city, about fifty in the small space and certainly more beyond the area they were in, were starting to creep up on the roofs and edge around the corners, looking at the small group.

"And I'm willin' to bet that we've got more than enough to overwhelm _three_ lords," Nohr finished, sneering.

Harper gave a derisive snort at that.

Axel was signing something at the others, the same three fingerspelled letters over and over and over again.

Jesse took a second to decipher the clumsy finger-spelling. Nurm seemed to have some trouble too, but Axel was doing it behind his back and upside-down anyways, so it wasn't the best finger-spelling.

R... v... n. No, that wasn't a v, that was a rather clumsy u...

 _Run_.

"Run." Jack muttered, the moment he'd deciphered the fingerspelling.

"What? No, we can handle it–" Aiden started to protest it.

"Not in a space that feels like a sardine can," Jack cut him off tersely, gesturing at the narrow space around them.

Petra still looked like she might protest the decision, and Maya started to protest herself. They could handle it, it was just a fight, they'd been in several fights on the way here–

" _RUN!_ " Jack _roared_ at them in a voice that brooked absolutely no room for argument.

Sure, maybe the lords could handle it, Jack could handle it, heck, even Petra and the October Children, but after a day or two of travelling– and Radar coming along besides, and him not being the best at fighting– they didn't want extra people getting in the way, especially when over fifty people were coming at them in a tight space.

That's like cramming a few extra fish into a chock-full barrel and hoping that the barrel didn't start to crack under the pressure.

Nobody had to wait for him to repeat it again before they all turned tail and scattered, except for the lords– and Jesse, since they were stuck on Axel's back.

There were several shouts, a few laughs and jeers at the fleeing October Children, the griefers attempting to follow the October Children– until Axel cracked his knuckles.

If Jesse could see his smile, they might've shrunk away. But the griefers certainly did, and it was enough to make them all pause for a moment.

It was not the friendly smile he'd been giving Jesse, the one of a boy (man? Demon?) who was patient and friendly and kind and, honestly, kind of a goof.

No, it was the kind of smile that made you realize that you'd messed up in challenging someone.

 _Bad._

"Been a while since I've been out of the safe zone long enough to get in a scrap."

* * *

 **A/N: Well, Axel and the lords are gonna have... fun. xD**

 **My costume's coming along well, but dang, I have to use a LOT of glitter for it xD I hope I can get more of it done this week.**

 **I updated the cover for October Children! Never drawn a cover for this story despite the fact I really loved it, so here it is.**

 **RQTC: I'm thinking about starting a little thing at the end of each chapter like an omake. An _omake_ is basically a bonus; you basically get to see the 'bloopers' of scenes. For example, you would see bloopers of lines, things I wrote jokingly and then deleted, or bloopers like it was a movie. One per chapter. What do you guys think?**

 **I am a phone. Reviews are my charge. I'm charged. xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Toni42: Yeeee :3 / Hehehehe, you're the cutest bear x3 / They do their best. :3 / Oof, yeah xD /Ack xD**

 **bungaMawar001: Yep! They're back for real now, I think. / Hehe xD / Yes, it's new! It was fun to draw xD**

 **Northern Goshawk: Yeah; but if an actual siren came up Jesse'd be gone. The siren would sing about stuff like... I dunno, cooking or pasta or something and Jesse'd be like "ooh yeah." xD xD / I see what you did there ;P / He's... trying, I guess xD / Yeah, that was fun! It wasn't intentional but I liked the way it happened, haha. / I'm really glad you enjoy it!**

 **Guest: He's doing a lot to help, haha. / Yeah, it kinda sucks they're in such bad shape. Good thing they're here, I guess. / Well, the others aren't letting THAT happen again. xD / Thank you! I'm glad you like it. :)**

 **TheAmberShadow: Yeah, he's kind of oblivious xD / Demons don't exactly have therapy unfortunately xD / Yeah, they especially need it since... well, it's Boom Town xD / Axel's surprisingly sneaky hehe / He _is_. / That's cool! Mine... uses a lot of paint and glitter. xD / It's not _two_ bad, as long as you don't mind a lot of _three_ puns. I'm _four_ -cing us to continue this, I hope you don't mind and _six_ around for a while. **

**Happygoluckymegami: Those all sound fun! I hope you have fun being Cassie. Bonus, you could also make a white pumpkin mask... though that would take forever. xD**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Glad you're enjoying the story. :)**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	49. Whoops, Blood Everywhere

One of the griefers opened his mouth to remark.

He never finished, since Axel slung off his jacket (Jesse went flying off with it into the corner, surviving with no injury except landing a bit hard on their butt and going "oof!" in surprise) and shot forward like a bullet.

Something flicked into his hand, he slapped his hand over the griefer's mouth, and leaped out of the way, skidding briefly and straightening, eyes narrowing as he glanced back at the griefer he'd just shoved the thing into.

At least, Jesse could only he shoved the thing he was holding into the griefer's mouth, because he wasn't holding it anymore.

Jesse registered this thought a moment before the tiny popping sound, which made the griefer's eyes bug out in shock.

And then a wooden axe clocked into their head and knocked them over.

" _Mevia!_ " (This was Harper.)

There was the sound of something going off like a firecracker, though Jesse missed it due to being a little fuzzy and wondering where the axe had come from and thus being a _tiny_ bit preoccupied.

"You wanted them to see _that?_ "

"Alright, Mevia, but did you really have to hit them in the face with an _axe_?" Isa scolded her in a hiss.

"It was only wood..."

Axel shot forward in the stunned silence and drew his fist back mid-motion, proceeding to punch another griefer in the face so hard he went straight through the brick wall of a house.

Nohr gritted her teeth. "Are y'all just gonna stand there, or are we actually going to attack?"

The griefers all gathered their resolve and raised a battle roar, charging forward.

Isa drew her sword and flicked her wrist in an expert motion.

The blade shot out longer, each section unsheathing upwards to the point where it dwarfed her height, and she cleaved it down with ease despite the blade undoubtedly heavy.

A few griefers got out of the way, but Jesse had to turn away before the blade sliced a few of the griefers in half altogether.

Mevia's axes had spun into her hand without Jesse noticing– the real ones, obviously, not the wooden training ones. Why Mevia still had that one was beyond them. She'd charged into the crowd slashing, mostly relying on her right hand and using the left to parry blows or thrown items, although she switched it up every once in a while. A demon fell almost with every motion, even with something as subtle as a jerk of the wrists.

Harper was mostly throwing redstone into griefer's eyes and skipping aside to avoid throwing any explosive items (that would probably injure everyone in the vicinity, even the other lords or Axel or lord forbid Jesse), but Axel... oh man. He was practically a whirlwind, slapping fireworks and gunpowder and thrusting a lit torch at the things to light it, catching several of them on fire or causing a miniature explosion.

(Harper had to swear and duck at one point when he almost caught her on fire.)

He gave a maniacal laugh as one griefer lunged at him with a gun. He twirled the torch, threw gunpowder into the griefer's eyes (the griefer flinched back with a screech), and then shoved the torch up the gun's barrel, twirling out another torch and lighting it the second it was in.

The gun exploded, making Axel laugh another boisterous laugh and then spin back around to deflect another attack with nothing but his flaming torch.

If Axel had been a teddy bear before, he was now an _actual_ bear. Probably one that was on fire, too.

A few griefers shot at Jesse– clearly seeing them as the weak link.

Jesse stumbled back and proceeded to trip.

... the little white chicken they'd just tripped over squawked slightly indignantly.

Jesse looked down at it. Then up at the charging griefers.

"Excuse me, can I borrow you as a distraction?"

The chicken clucked.

Jesse decided to take this as a yes, picked it up, and threw it at the griefers.

Feathers went flying everywhere as the griefer screamed several swears enough to make a sailor blush to the tips of their ears, the other ones skidding to a stop to look at the griefer in question.

Jesse proceeded to kick one in the chest with as much force as they could manage, knocking them back into the fray and accidentally sweeping them into Isa's range. The second looked at Jesse just in time to get a foot to the face and was knocked out almost immediately.

The one who'd gotten the chicken thrown at them ripped the chicken off– just in time for Jesse to nail him in the back of the neck with a rabbit punch.

He went down immediately.

Nohr had vanished off somewhere in the middle of the mess. Literally. Several bodies were piled in the alleyways, and a few griefers were lying unconscious on the ground.

"Huh. Didn't think a kid would know how to do a rabbit punch. Let alone have the guts to actually _do_ it."

Jesse started and looked around. Another griefer had walked in. He was pretty slight compared to some of the griefers. He wore a bandit's mask over a large (and slightly crooked) nose and red eyes that gleamed in the light. His bald head gleamed in the dim sunlight, his green armor decorated with dented, flaking gold buttons and a brown belt around his waist.

It looked a bit like Ivor's, actually, except it was just plain leather.

His brown gloves were studded at the knuckles and the wrist. His boots were pretty noticeable too, stained with old blood (layers and layers and layers of it) and tied together with belts– barely holding together at the seams.

Axel straightened slightly, then turned. Isa glanced over at him, her sword shrinking back into the normal blade, while Harper hastily shoved a handful of redstone into her pocket and Mevia tossing her bloody axes behind her into the pile of bodies, ignoring the way a few bodies squeaked when the axe impaled a bit too close to their heads.

"Oh. Hey, Magnus," he said, so casually it almost looked as though he were asking for the weather. "How you doing?"

* * *

 **A/N: Welp, that's this chapter done! Poor griefers jfdk;a Kinda their own fault, though. I mean what did you expect attacking _three_ lords?**

 **Axel fights pretty, uh, unorthodoxly though.**

 **I finished my costume! Now to post every Inktober I did on Tumblr.**

 **Hng.**

 **RQTC: Has anybody heard of Six the Musical?**

 **It's a musical that's kind of... like a modern take on Henry VIII's six wives. The music's really nice, although I think there's a few that shouldn't be listened to unless you're old enough xD Definitely a few innuendos in there.**

 **I am a candy bag on Halloween. Reviews are my candy. I got way more candy than I did actually trick-or-treating xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **ThinMintE: Hehe / To enemies he's just a normal bear. Unpredictable. xD**

 **Toni42: They're not too pleased, no xD / Nooooo T^T you're cutest. / Butts kicked.**

 **TheAmberShadow: Heehee / Thank you! I liked it too. / I _circle_ around to get more puns. I can talk pretty _sardine-ically_ (sardonically), but I _Snicker_ at a few of my own puns. I'm a total _Airhead_ sometimes, though, so don't necessarily expect the best puns. / Hehehe, yeah, I guess so. / Not too big; just a few dozen. But in a small alley it gets pretty crowded. / Ehehehe / He did, hence why he proceeded to throw off his jacket jfkd;a xD **

**Northern Goshawk: Very accurate statement xP / Hehehe xD / Thanks! I just also don't post much art or covers on here anymore, lol. / :3**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Indeed :P / Hehe**

 **Guest: Yeah, they're good. For now. xD**

 **Happygoluckymegami: Pft, big mood. / Heehee :P**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy the omake!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

 **Omake:**

"Sorry." Aiden smiled briefly and humorlessly at Jesse. "This is probably late, but please don't be alarmed. We're not planning to hurt you or anything like that."

He inclined his head politely at Jesse. "I'm Aiden, and the guy who dragged you in is Gill."

Jesse looked between the two, giving them a careful look-over. At the bandages covering their eyes. The leather jackets, the armor with spikes and leather straps.

 _They both look like they're my age... maybe they heard about the wish thing too and came here too._

Jesse glanced at the gleaming red eyes on both males– one smiling brightly, and the other barely smiling whatsoever– and did another once-over on their clothes.

 _But their eyes... and clothes..._

Jesse pondered this for a minute longer, and then proceeded to produce a thought that made the most sense to them.

 _Cosplay?_


	50. How to Not Comfort Someone

"Well, looks like we experienced another population dip," Magnus remarked casually, nudging one body aside so he could step through.

His eyes locked onto the three lords, and he gave a somewhat polite half-bow. (It was a bit tempered by the fact that he was grinning lopsidedly at them.) "Hello Mevia. Harper. Isa. What brings you here?"

"Oh, they're stopping through on their way to Fortrylle," Axel said, back to being a teddy bear in the blink of an eye as he went and scooped Jesse up, before holding them out.

And by holding them out, I mean literally holding them under their arms and letting their feet dangle as he extended the little human to Magnus while they wiggled in surprise. "This is Jesse."

"Axel, it looks like you're holding a toy or a cat," was Magnus's reply as he stepped closer for a better look.

(Mevia's fingers twitched warningly.)

"Hello," Jesse said meekly, after a moment of Magnus staring intensely at them.

"Hey, tiny. What's a human like you doing in Cosmos? You're gonna get eaten alive." Magnus gave an almost wicked grin, licking his lips. "Literally."

A wooden axe clocked him in the head immediately. He flinched, then turned to glare at Mevia for throwing it at him.

"I was _kidding_."

"Watch what you say around Jesse. They don't need further trauma," was Mevia's icy reply.

A bystander wouldn't have thought anything of the second wooden axe already at the ready in her hands, but most of the lords and barons knew that Mevia didn't pull that out unless she was about to do something with it, so Magnus hefted a long sigh and rolled his eyes.

"Alright, alright, it was just a joke, jeez. I'm not gonna eat you, tiny."

Jesse blinked at him. Their heart had leapt into their throat, and it took them a solid thirty seconds to unlodge it enough to squeak, "Okay..."

Axel pulled them back over, made them get on his back in a piggyback position (it was just safer) and tucked them under his flannel shirt, making it look like their head was poking out from his back. Jesse squeaked again, then giggled slightly.

Magnus's eyes might've softened slightly.

 _Might._

"Huh. Guess you need a place to spend the night... the safe zone's probably the safest place. If a bit crowded," Magnus grunted after a moment, crossing his arms.

"Is it really appropriate for a lady to spend the night in a communal house where she could get harassed to the Nether and back?" Mevia replied drily.

"Why are you so concerned about being a lady all of a sudden?" Magnus remarked a bit impolitely.

(Jesse was still boggled that the lords, while speaking formally, could end up speaking like normal people and let barons and normal people speak casually to them. It didn't really _feel_ like they were lords.)

" _I'm_ not, but Isa's a lady. You think I'm letting her get harassed?" was Mevia's reply.

"True," was Harper's reply.

Magnus considered this, scratching the stubble on his cheek, before giving a long sigh. He didn't agree with the statement, but he didn't snark or anything either. "The spire's kinda uncomfortable since it's not like I've got a ton of beds in there, but if you're okay with sleeping on the floor be my guest."

"Well, Harper's covered then," Isa quipped mischievously.

Harper proceeded to swat at her with a faint smile on her face.

* * *

Axel had offered to let Jesse have their bed, but judging by the way Lukas was tensed up worriedly, it was a bad idea to stray too far from the October Children right now, especially after watching Aiden's eyes bug out as he looked at the alley piled high with bodies, so they just declined politely and sat in Petra's lap.

She ran her fingers through Jesse's hair quietly. Listening to the human breathe.

Lukas, who was talking to Isa and Harper from where he was sitting on the floor, glanced over at Jesse. "You doing alright? We didn't exactly wanna leave you behind..."

"I'm fine." To be honest, they'd missed most of the bloodshed this time, keeping their face turned away from it, so they hadn't seen _too_ much.

Emphasis on _too_ much.

Maya gave Jesse a reassuring smile and leaned into the bed, trying to avoid bumping into Gill if at all possible. (This wasn't going well, but they seemed too collectively concerned about Jesse to care too much.)

"Well, that's good. We're gonna make sure you don't get separated from us this time around." She patted them on the back, before shooting a look at Gill as if it were somehow _his_ fault that Jesse had been piggybacking Axel and thus unable to flee with the rest of them. " _Right_ , Gill?"

"Fuck you," was his reply, although he did make sure to promptly reassure Jesse that yes, they would make sure that Jesse stayed with at least one member of the group.

Magnus watched the kids all bicker while the lords set up a good, secure sleeping area for them all.

He hadn't had lords stop by in a while– well, except for Ivor, but Ivor was the lord of his district, so it only made sense. Maybe he'd have to socialize. (Axel sure would, so he'd get dragged into it before long.)

He did have to admit he was a bit curious about Jesse– anyone would be, really, with a human that tiny– but he was sure that even if he didn't get to talk to him the others would talk to him about them, so either way he didn't mind the socializing too much this time around.

A little blob of color caught his eye– green. Bright green. He turned to follow it, but it had vanished before he could really lock onto it.

He could've sworn he'd seen...

Well, Magnus wasn't one to assume. (Goodness knew Ellie would proceed to lecture him if he got even half a detail wrong.) So he wouldn't assume.

But for a minute...

Well, he thought he'd spotted a doll outside.

But that couldn't be right.

Boom Town didn't have _dolls_. Not in the sense that Hizelk or Enchantra would have them, or even the little mechanical things in Yurin or the basic ones in Narvid. It was easy for them to blow up and lose it– or, in other cases, release a wave of potent magic over everything and cause some mess-ups.

So he couldn't have seen a doll.

* * *

 **A/N: Oh, couldn't you, Magnus?**

 **Welp, Boom Town's not over yet. We've still got a day of travel.**

 **I'm gonna be playing Pokemon Sword when it comes out– I don't get the unicorn Ponyta but I get Sirfetched, so I think that's a good tradeoff. I'll also be doing a Nuzlocke and then... probably shitposting an MCSM version of what's going on. I don't know. xD**

 **RQTC: Do you like ginger ale?**

 **I do! I don't know why. I really like the taste.**

 **I am a computer. Reviews are my files. I'm lagging from all the open files xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Happygoluckymegami: I guess they did xD**

 **Guest/Saran: Hehehe / Yeah, Jesse's pretty good about kicking people's butts. / It does change, but one thing that stays the same is they can fight decently enough, and they care about people. / Yes, chickens. xD / Haha, Magnus is great. / Don't worry about it! / It is convenient, but feel free to do whatever you want!**

 **Guest: Don't forget, time moves faster in Cosmos. So a few weeks or months could easily just be a few hours or a day. / But also probably not...**

 **TheAmberShadow: I didn't know that; I just really like the music xD / This is pretty _sweet_ , but maybe we should start before it ends up going all _sour_. I'm _salty_ about some puns, but don't worry– I'm not _bitter_. Maybe we should switch to less _flavorful_ puns. / Yeah xD / That too, but also so she can express irritation by chucking them at people without killing them. / Hehehe / True that xD / Yeah, I didn't have anything to add or slide in; didn't see how I'd be able to just have a random egg there. / Not much at the moment. / Hehe :3**

 **Northern Goshawk: Yeah xD / I don't think I decided that. Just a brand of martial arts. / Nope xD**

 **Toni42: Yep, just pure chaos. / Ahaha, I think a chicken flying at your face is pretty distracting. But yeah, Mevia's nice like that xD / He kinda showed up at the tail end, yeah xD / No, but since 'best bear' is your nickname, you're the best at being cute. / Hehe**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Glad you liked the chapter, dude! Six is pretty cool though.**

 **ThinMintE: Any distraction involving a chicken wins. xD / Aww. / Thank you!**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

Romeo inclines his head at Jesse, who has to crane their neck back a good amount to make eye contact with him. "Well, Jesse, my name is Romeo. I'm the lord of the south of Cosmos."

"... isn't the south of Cosmos just... Narvid?"

"... well, yes, Jesse, but you're getting too far ahead in the script, you don't know that yet."

"... oh. Whoops."

"Cut!"

* * *

"I'm the lord of the south."

Romeo abruptly adopted a long Southern drawl, making Maya break down into uncontrollable giggles. "Yeah, ya heard me right, I'm the lawd of the south."

Aiden facepalmed, shaking his head. "Oh my god, Romeo."

"Cut!"

* * *

"Well, Romeo, my name is– wait, _fuck_ " Romeo slapped his forehead in irritation as Jesse started giggling.

"Hi, Fuck, I'm Petra," Petra deadpanned back.

Jesse's giggles turned into uncontrollable laughter. They might as well have flopped into a little puddle.

"Quit goofing around!" Aiden snapped, although his poor attempt at hiding his own laugh wasn't going that well and made the snap so much less intense.

"It's not our fault Romeo keeps messing up!"

"Cut!"


	51. Red Sky in Morning

It was late at night (or very early in the morning, depending on how you looked at it) when Jesse decided– officially– that they couldn't sleep.

They'd certainly tried. Short of knocking themselves out, they'd counted sheep, gone to the bathroom to make sure they weren't holding anything in, had some warm water...

Nope, nothing worked.

So they just got up, wiggling out from where Maya had claimed them to use as a buffer between her and Gill. (She proceeded to grumble in her sleep and roll back into him, which almost made Jesse coo, except that would've woken them up, and that would've been rude, so they didn't.)

They found themselves meandering around the spire. The blown out part was interesting to peek through, since you could see so much of the area around without having windows (and... some light came in), so they could see things still exploding far below.

Boom Town was very aptly named.

"Neat, huh?"

Jesse jumped and almost fell off the edge of the ledge they were looking over, which meant Magnus's arm had to shoot out and grab them by the collar, hauling them back in so that he was holding onto them and also so they weren't literally leaning over the edge peering down at the town.

"Whoa, there, Tiny. Mevia's gonna put an axe between my eyes if I let you fall from this height."

Jesse turned slightly to meet Magnus's red eyes. They gave a slightly awkward smile when they saw his amused look. His voice was rough and gravelly and scratchy, but he did seem to have a very dry sense of humor.

And also just a slightly violent one.

"She does seem to like me..." For some reason.

Magnus shrugged and sat down, clinging onto a twisted, shattered metal railing that he'd probably left there so he could hold onto it. "Yeah. Good on you for that. She hates most everyone else. Or at least, you end up on the wrong side of the axe a good amount of the time." He jerked his head down at the ground. "I think all those demons that saw her today can confirm that."

Jesse chuckled awkwardly and looked down. "Being the baron of this place must be..." What was the most polite thing they could say? Absolutely terrifying and completely horrendously tiring?

"Chaotic."

The baron nodded, scratching at some stubble growing on his chin. He had a bandage where he seemed to have knicked himself from shaving. "Yeah, but sometimes I get to spit on their heads, so I guess that's neat."

Jesse couldn't help the little face they made at that.

Magnus barked a laugh when he saw the face. "See why Axel likes ya. He's kinda fond of cute shit." He ruffled Jesse's hair so hard they found most of it hanging in their face.

They flipped it back and squinted at him, feeling a bubble of worry in their chest. "So what do you think about me?" they asked him, waiting for him to scowl and roll his eyes.

 _You know nobody wants you._

Magnus shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. You're cute, I guess, and Axel likes ya. As long as he likes ya, I'm cool with you, Tiny."

"Like you're not kinda short too," Jesse mumbled.

At that, he threw his head back and laughed.

* * *

"So we should be at Fortrylle in the next few hours," Jack reported, from where they'd stopped for a brief break.

Bob whinnied and shook himself down, making Jesse squeak as he almost threw them off.

That would've hurt slightly.

"Jesse, look– that's Fortrylle up ahead," Maya said cheerfully, lifting her arm to point.

Jesse was busy scuffling with Bob to avoid falling off, but they lifted their head for a good look.

Fortrylle was already impressive from this far away– Jesse could see it.

It was a chaotic building– yet still more organized than the spire with the middle blown out. A few random floating blocks that Jesse could swear were moving around in an organized way, a sheer cliff that rose quite steeply and dropped off abruptly to an ocean of sharp stone and seething red water had a huge tree-like structure on it.

The branches spread, curling randomly, and Jesse could see buildings attached to the branches. Little clumps of rooms and long structures that didn't touch the ground, and a large 'building' at the very center of the branches.

"How we doing on time, Mevia?" Isa asked her, glancing at the blue-haired woman with a cursory look while Jesse was silently boggled in the background.

"Well, since Axel and Magnus snuck us out using the secret tunnel so we didn't waste time getting harassed at _three in the morning_ ," Mevia muttered, making Gill grin at her irritation for being woken that early. "We'll probably get there by mid-afternoon."

"I suggest speeding the itinerary up as much as we can," Petra replied. She sounded tense, Jesse noticed absently.

"Oh?" Isa looked back to her, almost looking regal from her own horse. "Why is that?"

Harper pointed behind them. "Blue," she uttered.

In comical unison, all of them turned simultaneously to look at the sky behind them.

It was a clear, beautiful shade of blue, the clouds like white cotton in the blue expanse. Jesse hadn't realized how much they missed the blue sky until their breath was taken away and they were staring at it.

Lukas swore. "Oh, shit... yeah, let's go," he murmured, already breaking into a quicker pace, calling to the other half-demons to go full demon so they could go full-pace.

"Whoa. That's not good," Aiden muttered, staring at the blue expanse of sky stretching towards them before melding into a rich purple and then magenta and then red and black as always.

"What do you mean?" Jesse asked, blinking. The blue sky was a rare pleasure for them compared to the bloodred sky that usually spread in miles every direction over Cosmos.

Aiden frowned, glancing around at the blue sky. Gill had already shot ahead with Maya (who cussed after him), and the lords were making their way to the branches of Fortrylle tracing the blue sky with a haste that hadn't been there before.

"... I think there used to be a human saying. 'Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in morning, sailor's warning.' Basically, if the sky is red in the morning, you're probably fucked if you wanna take a boat out," Aiden said after a moment of thought, surprising Jesse, his brow furrowed. "Generally meaning a storm is going to blow in."

Red eye flickered to Jesse.

"But here, the sky is only ever red. Maybe purple at sunrise. The clouds are always black."

The wind picked up, bringing a smell of ozone so strong Jesse instinctively covered their face. Ozone and the smell of dirt and dust and rain swirled around them.

"A blue sky and white clouds mean a storm's coming."

* * *

 **A/N: Storms are great. When you're indoors. And safe.**

 **Which they're not.**

 **This is somewhat revenge on SilverSilence14 for the little stunt she pulled in Crawlout Through the Fallout on Archive Of Our Own. By the way, great fic, love it, bu h. Also Silver is really cool and awesome. Go check her out :3 But also blame her for the bad things that will happen next chapter.**

 **Possibly after that too.**

 **Yeah, you're getting chaos.**

 **RQTC: Have you written a Fanfiction chapter on a phone?**

 **Yep! Very painfully. Don't love it.**

 **I am a flowerpot. Reviews are the flowers. Flowers make me sneeze and I'm sneezing.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Northern Goshawk: Remember, dolls in Cosmos are like full-on demon/human bodies and look virtually the same as them with the exception of lacking a soul. So the way Magnus is determining it is the fact that the hair is green. / They always are. They're not used to it. / Yeeee / He kinda is xD**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Yep xD / Glad you're enjoying the story!**

 **Toni42: Hehe x3 / (shrugs) / Yeah xD It's cute to write. Unfortunately we're not getting much cuteness after this xD / Nah you're still cuter.**

 **Happygoluckmegami: Hehe, feel you there. / True! But also she's not the fondest of him. They're kinda like Gill and Maya. / She's not the sort of person to care about being a lady xD / Who knows? / Nope. Remember, dolls that are green are that way due to hair color; that's how you distinguish them. / Oof. / Indeed xD**

 **Saran** : **Ehehe, so does everyone else. / Well, I don't think Magnus has been wooed, he's chill with them. / Indeed. / Hehehehe / The thing is just seeing a color isn't a guarantee that it's a doll. / He's really fun in there lol. / Oh no xD Don't stay up that late xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: Yaaay. / I actually do have to forgo the puns this time my hands are starting to cramp from typing on my phone. I will resume the puns in the following a/n, with _gust_ o and no _blowing hot air._ / Hehe, she does xD / Yep xD / Nope. / He's doing his best xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

Romeo rounded the corner to see Jesse being rocked like a baby by Kaster and Bedivire.

He blinked. The metal dragons absolutely did not make a habit out of doing that.

Jesse looked helplessly at him when they noticed his presence. "They kinda insisted on doing this..."

"... do you find it relaxing?"

Jesse looked at the iron dragons, who were happily nuzzling them while this was happening. They considered the question for a while.

"My everything fell asleep."

"Ah." Romeo sighed and went over to go rescue them.


	52. Sailor's Warning

"Are storms really bad in Cosmos?" Jesse asked, the horse they were on already spurring itself into a canter as Aiden sped up.

Aiden grunted, looking as if he might abandon Jesse if they asked another question- then he seemed to catch himself and grunted again. "Kinda take a sandstorm, a thunderstorm, and like... a hailstorm or a hurricane all at once. Then throw in what happens at night in Cosmos except a lot more violent and probably seeking for living souls for a better vessel, and boom, you get a Cosmos storm."

Jesse considered this.

Then went pale.

The sheer destructive force of all those storms- and the fact that negative energy _merged_ with things to create stuff like Endermen and zombies and who knew what else...

They did not want to be out here in the storm.

"Now hurry the hell up. We're already in a really bad place," and now Aiden was almost yelling over his shoulder as he ran, already shifting so that he was half in his shadow form, "the fact that we can already see the blue means it's almost-"

His final words were lost in a whisper of wind as he finished the transformation, wings propelling him through the air in a dark blur towards Fortrylle.

But he didn't need to finish for Jesse to know what he meant.

Bob whinnied loudly and picked up the pace, breaking forth into a gallop that made the grass around them part from the force of the movement, Reuben squealing. Jesse buried their face in Bob's fiery mane as the Cosmos horse ran, the wind already beginning to pick up around them.

The storm arrived too soon, wind slapping Jesse full-force in the face before they even knew it, screaming in their ears while they pressed into Bob desperately and tried not to be blown off.

When they chanced a look up, it was to see that the world had transformed into an almost black haze, flashes of red in the darkness around them, hiding anything that wasn't immediately around them from view like a thick black smog.

Dust and dirt whirled around them, blowing into Jesse's eyes and mouth the moment they lifted their head, the smell of ozone overwhelming them so immediately that they felt almost lightheaded.

Rain began to drip, then it was abruptly- with almost no warning- coming down in _sheets_ , in thick hard sheets of stinging rain that burned their eyes when they kept them open for too long and had them drenched totally in seconds. It was a wonder the flame on the horse's mane didn't vanish.

They made a tiny sound- a whimper?- and buried back into the fiery mane, trying to keep their grip on Reuben and the horse and-

A bolt of red lightning exploded only a few feet away, making Bob the horse shriek and stumble in his gallop as he shied to avoid the lightning, Jesse crying out loudly and desperately trying to keep their balance- they couldn't as the horse reared and they found themself slipping off his wet back and they slammed hard into the grass, Reuben squealing as he went slipping out of their arms like he'd been greased.

"Reuben!" they yelled, already fumbling through soaking wet grass as the rain hammered down on them, barely audible over the roar of rain and the panicked whinnies of the horse behind them and the wind screaming through the grass and the sky and the dust and the dirt, black bearing down around them. The grit and stinging rain made it impossible to see, but Jesse squeezed their eyes shut and kept searching for the little pig that was their soul vessel.

Bob screamed behind them, whinnying and stamping his hooves and searching for them, but the air was heavy with the scent of ozone and dirt and grass and wet and he couldn't sniff them out, and the sound of the horse was drowned what with the storm around them, and the horse immediately lost Jesse in the screaming storm.

The horse huffed, stamping his hooves, before the horse vanished in a whipcrack and flash of light to escape the storm.

Jesse, only a few meters away, blundered upon Reuben, the little piggy whining and nosing into their arms. "It's okay, Reuben," they whispered, struggling to calm themselves as the storm howled around them and clawed at Jesse with wind and dust and dirt and hard sheets of rain that burned their skin even as he kept whining, inaudible above the thundering storm around them.

The human struggled to their feet and began to blunder through the rain back towards their horse- but of course, it wasn't there anymore, and they could only stumble through the rain and struggle to keep their balance in the thick sludge and mud that had almost immediately begun forming and churning, sucking at their shoes and their overalls and soaking their legs to the skin.

Unaware of glowing smears of energy that were beginning to emerge from the black smog around them.

Unaware that negative energy would jump at the chance to merge with a human and rip them apart.

* * *

The guards heaved the door shut as Lukas almost immediately collapsed on the ground inside the tree that made up Fortrylle. He was dripping mud and water and sludge all over the floor, but so were the guards and everyone else inside, so that wasn't a huge deal.

"That's one of the worst storm's Enchantra's had in months," one guard mumbled after spitting out what looked like a full mouthful of mud.

Aiden groaned, already shedding his muddy leather jacket to reveal that he was still soaked under that- although cleaner; he was covered in dust and grime and dirt from the storm that had spiraled up around them. "Great. So we're probably stuck here a few days," he muttered, wiping at his filthy face with his clean sleeve. "Least we finally got here."

Gill was busy hacking up mud on the floor. Maya had dropped her usual pretense of swearing at him in favor of hastily pounding his back and trying to get all the mud out, looking worried sick about him as he coughed and trembled.

"You twat, be more careful in storms like that!"

Okay, forget the first part of that. She was still supporting him and trying to help him, though, despite the fact that she was pretty much soaked in mud.

Petra seemed to have avoided the worst of the storm in time, having shot ahead; she was still soaked and shaking. "Enchantra's storms are never this bad," she mumbled. "Not unless Ivor slips 'cause he's focusing on something... damn it, Ivor..."

Radar was practically covered head-to-toe in mud; Nurm had taken his glasses and started cleaning them. The man seemed to have been with Petra and, while a little muddy from the waist down, still had clean-enough sleeves to at least clean the sludge off of Radar's glasses.

Jack had cut off a small part of Mevia's robe that she'd offered to him that was remotely clean to bind Harper's hand; a blast of lightning had missed it by a centimeter while she'd reached the gates and singed it pretty bad, despite her claiming "Not hurt" to a panicked Isa. She was totally drenched, the woman's entire dress soaked in muddy water, but was otherwise unharmed, to Lukas's faint relief.

Lukas turned pale as he scanned the room, murmurs of concern and affirmation that everyone was alright filling the background and buzzing in his ears as he conducted a headcount and came up short.

"One, two... wait, we're missing someone. Who- who are we missing?" His brain scrambled; they had everyone, didn't they? Petra, Maya, Gill, Mevia, Isa, Harper, Jack, Nurm, Radar, Aiden...

Jesse.

Where was Jesse?

Lukas's heart clunked into his boots as his head snapped to the left.

To the tightly shut gates blocking out the storm outside as it howled and boomed and pounded at the door with sheets of rain and clawed at the doors, negative energy beating against the door and begging to be let in.

To the screaming storm that very few demons would survive alone.

Let alone a human who didn't even look like they could survive being shoved down.

Aiden sucked in a quiet breath and swore as he conducted his own headcount and arrived at the same conclusion. His eyes snapped to his friend. "Shit. Lukas, don't be hast- _LUKAS!_ "

The last word came out in an actual _scream_ as he lunged to grab the blonde half-demon, but Lukas was already throwing himself at the gate and shoving it back open and slamming it shut behind him, disappearing in a moment into a whirlwind of dust and wind and thunder and lightning and sheets of rain.

"Fuck. _Fuck,_ " Aiden cussed, tangling his fingers in his hair. "He's good with magic but not enough to purify a whole fucking storm's worth of negative energy- _fuck_ ," and now he was pacing frenetically back and forth.

Petra reached up to calm him down. "Aiden. Aiden, calm–"

Aiden whipped to look at her, rage flashing in his eyes. "He and Jesse will fucking _die_ if they stay out in that storm too long, and you're trying to tell me to _calm down_ –"

"There's no use killing ourselves getting them to safety," Gill croaked, gagging on mud and spitting up what looked like the last of it. "A few of us should run and get Ivor- he might be able to suppress it enough that we can go get them both out of there."

He then proceeded to gag on more mud.

Maya nodded. "Gill's right," she murmured, and maybe if the situation was any different Gill would've gloated about it, but it wasn't and he just looked worried. "I'd say you and Petra- you guys move faster than us. Plus there are some of us who are injured."

If anyone had noticed Aiden's shift of heart regarding Jesse, nobody even breathed a suggestion of it.

Aiden clenched his jaw, staring at the two, before he glared at Petra, red eye glowing in the dim light of the floating orbs that circled above their head and illuminated the front gate. "Let's get him, then," he growled.

"And when we find him, and they're both safe, he'd better have a _damn_ good reason for letting that storm build up this much."

* * *

Lukas struggled through the storm, getting buffeted from side to side by blasts of wind that shoved him about, making him stumble through thick mud and sludge and sheets of rain.

Jesse.

God, he hoped Jesse was okay.

The storm ripped at him, wind howling and trying to tear away his leather jacket so that the hard sheets of rain could soak into icy skin and subdue him before the negative energy could. He responded by muttering a swear Aiden would've used at it and holding it tighter around him as a kind of 'screw you' to the universe.

He was shivering enough _with_ the jacket; losing it might just prove disastrous.

A little figure was emerging from the smog before him, blundering in a path that was near his but not quite on a collision trajectory. He squinted, trying to peer through dirt and dust that flew into his eyes and rain that made everything just look like a blur.

It glowed.

Human.

With their soul.

Which meant-

"Jesse!" Lukas shouted to them through the rain, noticing with a shudder of apprehension that there were thick black clouds of glowing substance- _negative energy_ flitted into his brain and out just as fast- swirling around them both, having narrowed its sights on its two targets.

The only two living beings unlucky or stupid enough to still be out here.

They couldn't hear him- he couldn't blame them, he could barely hear himself over the roaring rain.

" _Jesse!_ " Lukas yelled louder, raising a cracking voice to be heard, and Jesse heard, because their little head came up to look at him, but it also caught the attention of the negative energy and it began to swirl around them both more threateningly, like the eye of a hurricane except the center _wasn't_ safe, it was just as full of rain and dust and dirt and wind and lightning as the rest of the storm, and the two of them were in horrible danger right now.

He thought he could hear a thin cry from Jesse, but the little figure was struggling closer through the storm regardless of if they'd actually made any sound and undoubtedly enough mud to drown them if he shoved their head under, and he could catch a little oink, so he picked up his pace to go grab them and run them both in before the storm killed them both and the others were left to find their bodies after the fact. "Jesse!" he called out, relief blossoming in his chest.

A bolt of lightning abruptly illuminated the area around Jesse- literally, because the smog was blasted back from the force of the strike and it skimmed Jesse's shoulder.

Jesse screamed- louder than the storm- and jerked, as if in pain, and the negative energy began to buzz more excitedly, having spotted a clear glimpse of their probably more appealing target, flitting about in zigzags that made blots of black shoot across Lukas's vision as it flitted about excitedly.

His heart leapt into his throat. "JESSE!" Lukas screamed-

A whole mouthful of negative energy shot past his lips and down his throat.

He heaved, gagging and choking on the thick black substance even as he could hear Jesse's thin cry of "Lukas!" as he stepped back, desperately trying to gag it back up and throw it up and feeling it grip the inside of his throat with iron-tipped claws that sent pain shooting through his entire neck.

He could feel something- parasitic, desperate, clawing to make its way into his body and make him its permanent host- scratching, clawing, fighting.

He gagged harder, falling to his knees as he tried to squeeze it out with his hands, almost strangling himself, but it wouldn't come out, it wouldn't come out and it wouldn't go in and he was left helplessly choking and gasping for air that wouldn't come as he shook, trying to get it out.

A sticky strand of black oozed out of his mouth but never broke; like some kind of gooey wormlike object it began to curl back past his lips, into his throat, into his shaking body that was fighting it as hard as he damn could.

He was seeing Jesse's terrified face down a long, dark tunnel now, black clouds seeping into his vision and overtaking it so that he could barely see any of the dust or dirt or lightning or sheets of hard, stinging rain or negative energy whirling around him.

He could barely see anything; he could barely even feel anything except radiating agony through his throat and his body and sneaking into his chest, even as Jesse screamed something that never made it past the buzzing in his ears.

And then he saw nothing.

* * *

 **A/N: 2,500 words in one chapter! Don't become used to it, this is a treat. Thanks Silver! I'm super motivated now xD**

 **I updated real quick this time, very few people actually reviewed the last chapter.**

 **Okay fine, one person reviewed the last chapter. xD**

 **RQTC: How many of my readers are legal adults?**

 **If you're not comfortable answering no problem! Instead, just tell me if you could own as many cats and dogs as you could without hygiene, space, or time consumption being a problem, how many?**

 **My answers are, I am a legal adult (not specific age though), and I'd own 1 dog and 2 cats. Because I'm slightly allergic so I think more would possibly hurt me xD**

 **Roses are red,  
** **violets are blue,  
I got one review,  
Though I expected at least two.**

 **Responses to review!**

 **Syra Nyth: Welcome to the review section! I'm really glad you're enjoying the story- and yes, Jesse _is_ awesome. xD Here's another update! I am probably going to cause pain though xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

"I need you to bring Jesse back here by seven tonight, but otherwise you can do whatever you want with them," Romeo told the October Children, though he still seemed to be halfway occupied with his glaring contest with Aiden.

Maya stared at Jesse.

They blinked up at her innocently.

Then she looked back at Romeo.

"Did... did you just set them a curfew?"

Romeo blinked.

Then looked back at Jesse, giving them a mock-squinty look. "I expect you back here by seven, young one," he said, in a mock-serious voice, though the way his lips twitched betrayed how amusing he'd found the statement.

"Yes, Dad," Jesse replied without even skipping a beat.

Cue everyone on set dying of laughter for ten minutes while the director yelled "Cut" repeatedly in an annoyed tone.


	53. The Eye of the Storm

"LUKAS!"

Jesse scrambled over and fell beside him on their knees, shaking in the rain. The blonde lay lifeless on his back, the blindfold still over his eyes. (Jesse always wondered how he could see through it, but now was about exactly the _wrong_ time to wonder about that). His lips were parted open, as if mid-gasp for air.

"Lukas, Lukas, no, please wake up," Jesse begged him, shaking his limp form as best they could with numb fingers.

He didn't move, despite their pleading cries and the sound of the negative energy buzzing about excitedly above them, seeking the human. Seeking for the ideal host.

A little human whose heart wasn't in their body.

Jesse gritted their chattering teeth against the cold, before they gripped him in an awkward hug and hefted him up as best they could.

He was heavy. Heavier than they'd expected. They almost dropped him right then and there, grunting as they tried to support his weight and failed.

They staggered forward a few steps, almost dragging Lukas's limp legs across the rough ground and stumbling through thick mud that clumped around their legs, before they unbalanced and the two– three of them, if you counted Reuben– all fell back into the mud.

But they got back up, shivering hard with Lukas pressed into their arms.

They couldn't let him die, could he?

Not now that they were friends ( _friends, he was their_ friend).

No.

Even if they _weren't_ friends, they couldn't just let him die.

So they gritted their teeth and shouldered him the best they could and waded through almost ankle-deep mud that was icy and sticky and made fording through it so, so difficult, and every time they fell they struggled back up, feeling themselves shake even harder, clenching their teeth harder and harder until the last time they fell, they just couldn't get up anymore.

They whimpered and shook Lukas again. "L-Luh-Lukas–" they managed, through violently chattering teeth, shifting him slightly. "Pl-puh-please–"

He didn't move, still and silent ( _and dead_ ) in their trembling grip, not quite with a host of negative energy, but not Lukas either.

Jesse shivered and let their head drop to rest on Lukas's chest, knowing that their extremities were probably blue.

That was it, then. This was probably the last thing they'd do.

Great. Yep. Exactly how they they wanted to die.

But what else could they do? Yell? Scream at the top of their lungs into howling wind and thundering rain?

There was absolutely nobody that could hear them scream right now.

Not in this storm.

Reuben whined and nudged them, trying to get them to get back up. They held him tight, eyes flickering shut as the little pig pressed into the mirror and whined and nuzzled Jesse frantically.

The mirror.

 _The mirror._

Jesse's eyes flew open.

There was _one_ person that might be able to hear them scream right now.

They shivered in the icy rain and gripped the mirror tight in fingers that had no feeling at all as they pulled it enough to be able to see the surface past the dirt and the dust and the smog and yelled the name of the one person they could think of that might be able to help them, with rain pouring down and wind and dust flying everywhere and their legs entrenched in thick black mud.

" _Romeo_!"

For a minute, there was nothing, and the longer they waited the longer they were certain that nobody really _could_ hear them.

"Jesse!"

They looked up. Romeo's hazy image was in the mirror, the lord squinting as if trying to make them out through the dust and the dirt and the rain. Jesse smiled the best they could through the pain and the cold and the ice and dust and dirt whipping them in the face.

"What the hell? Where are you?!" the lord yelled to be heard over the screaming storm.

Jesse tried to raise their voice the best they could, but the negative energy buzzing about seemed to enjoy hearing their voice, and it was a thin, weak attempt what with dust and dirt blowing half-down their throat. "O-outside Fortrylle. Thuh-there's a really buh-bad storm," they choked out, before devolving into some weak coughs.

Romeo frowned, eyes flicking to the side, before back to them. "You're in the middle of a storm?"

"Yeah..." Jesse coughed again, ducking their head and the mirror to avoid some negative energy that wafted near their head.

Lightning blasted inches from them, Jesse giving a little scream in shock as it narrowly missed blasting both them and Lukas and undoubtedly narrowly avoiding killing both of them right then and there. Romeo swore, but the ringing in their ears from the thunder blocked out most of it.

"–esse? Jesse, are you alright?"

Jesse gave a little sob of fear. "Lukas– Lukas got some negative energy in him, and– and I don't know where we are," they wavered in a voice that shook and broke and rasped in the thundering rain. "I'm– I'm scared."

They half expected him to snap at them.

 _Tough luck._

 _You're seventeen. You shouldn't act like a little kid._

 _You little shit._

Romeo swore again. "Okay– okay, was it a lot? Like did it look like it would've been able to make up his entire body?"

Jesse shook their head, shivering hard in the rain. "No– no, i-it was–" They choked on some dust and coughed, but persisted. "It wasn't that much."

"Okay– okay." Romeo blew out an almost relieved breath. Jesse was pretty sure his voice was shaky, but before they could confirm, he was talking again. "Uh– Isa– Isa said you can do magic, in one of the earlier reports. Is that true?"

Jesse nodded. "Yeah."

They couldn't make out the way his brow creased, but he nodded, filing the information away for later, when it was quieter and more peaceful and the world wasn't screaming around Jesse. "Okay. You need to repeat after me, okay? Just repeat after me and breathe, and everything will be fine."

Jesse shivered and nodded again. "Oh-okay."

"You listening?"

"Ye... yeah..." Jesse let their head rest on Lukas's chest.

It felt cold. Like a corpse. Maybe it was because it was soaking wet, but that didn't sound right either.

"Jesse? It's a light spell. Uh, _lekki_..."

Jesse's tongue and lips and everything was heavy. They forced themselves to breathe it out. "L-lekki..."

A faint concentric ring formed around them, the runes or letters or whatever they were wavery and indistinct in the rain thundering down and in their own fading vision.

" _Aotrom... gerel_ ," Romeo finished hastily. "It's– it's a basic light spell, it should get enough of the negative energy out that you can purify it later, and you can do it as many times as you need..."

"Aotrom... g-gerel..." Jesse whispered, interrupted only with a little cough.

The three concentric rings wobbled dangerously before shooting into Lukas's chest.

He abruptly convulsed and vomited, black substance with a glowing aura around it almost shooting out of his mouth like a projectile. The blonde half-demon shook for a moment, still coughing up the disgusting-looking substance as it shot off, burning red and gold until the wisps had vanished in the smog around it.

Then he went still again.

He was okay.

He would probably be okay.

Jesse shivered weakly and clung closer. That was something. As long as he survived the storm... he would be okay.

Maybe the negative energy wouldn't notice them now that neither of them were moving much.

"Jesse? Hey, Jesse, are you still there?" Romeo was shouting through the mirror. Jesse was vaguely aware that he probably couldn't hear the word they'd just said.

But they didn't have the energy to yell back. They barely had the energy for anything anymore.

Their eyes slipped shut, and their fingers slackened. The mirror tumbled to rest against their lifeless hands and body, the smog and the thundering rain and the screaming wind almost muffling the loud yells coming from it.

"JESSE!"

* * *

 **A/N: On one hand, I really like writing fluff; on the other, this is also extremely fun. xD**

 **Well, most of the negative energy is out, so Lukas won't die from that. :)**

 **RQTC: How much do you like Romeo?**

 **Funny thing was, I didn't like him until Episode 2 when he started making puns... so now I love him xD What a troubled, troublesome red boy. Basically an angsty teen xD**

 **I am a beach. Reviews are the waves. I'm flooded. xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Syra Nyth: Of course! I try to keep up a consistent schedule. (Which means it never happens.) / Ahhh, I'm so glad you like it! I always am really critical of my writing, haha. / Ahhh, yes. I just really like cats and dogs. xD**

 **Idontwritetoomuch: Oof, yeah. Good on Lukas for being a hero. But, uh, negative energy, so xD / I hope you're having a great day/night as well! And I'm really glad you're enjoying it!**

 **TheAmberShadow: Surely forgoing the puns would mean _sack_ -rificing my soul? I have this in the _bag_ , so don't you worry, I'll _tote_ around all my puns while everyone else _purse_ s their lips and shakes their head. / It does have something to do with magic, I'll give you that. xD / Only slightly xD / Yes, run little ones! / Indeed. / He can sort of do it, but in a storm it's no use– Bob can't even see where he's going. / :) / Yeah, it's bad xD / Oh no xD / I updated super fast so I can't blame you for not coming on super fast; I was just in the mood for a poem xD **

**Happygoluckymegami: Ahaha, don't worry about it. / Yeah, it's pretty bad. Good thing Fortrylle's almost entirely inside the tree. xD / It's not fun. I don't recommend it xD / Big mood xD / LOLOLOL**

 **Toni42: Magnus is great. / It's like a big tree, so xD / Neh / (No, you are) / Yep, but I decided it was a bit distracting xD / Hehehehe xD / Maybe some yelling... xD / Hehe / That was fun to write, lol. / It's weird to realize that when something says 18+, I can go "I AM 18+." / Hehe, yes**

 **bungaMawar001: He really cares about Jesse... to his slight detriment xD**

 **Saran: Haha, I'm really glad you liked it! / Oof, yeah. Not so great about the storm. / I'm basically the Queen of Cliffhangers, I love leaving off on them. xD / Since Aiden never expresses he cares, it means a lot when he does actually try xD / Well, he's... occupied xD / Yeah, it's like... a bunch of bees xD / I'm really glad you're enjoying it so much! / Hehe**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

"Why did you bring me here?"

Aiden nodded, as if expecting the question. "Ah, yeah. Hold out your hand."

Perplexed, Jesse obediently stuck it out. Aiden held up an innocently white sprout of a flower, the two blossoms on it connected by a single stem, and had them hold one of the blossoms while he held the other, a bit gruffly. "Okay. Promise me that you'll do what I say. Even if it's to run and leave us all behind," he added.

Jesse blinked. "Huh?"

"Just promise."

"Um, uh, I promise," Jesse agreed after a minute. There was no point in disagreeing; he knew what was better for them in a dangerous situation, after all.

Aiden grunted. "I promise that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe," he said, a bit grudgingly.

The flower's stem elongated, beginning to wrap around Jesse's wrist in an elegant snaking motion. It was snaking up Aiden's arm too, in an elaborate pattern that Jesse couldn't have broken even if they'd tried, the flower breaking so that each blossom was on the back of their hand.

And then abruptly the vines solidified, around Jesse's and Aiden's hand.

They gave it an experimental poke.

It was almost as hard as metal, glimmering and gleaming in the light.

"It's pretty... what is it?" they asked, curiously tilting their hand from side to side.

"Ah, it's a promise flower. You've promised that you will do what I say, and I've promised that I will do my best to protect you." Aiden narrowed his eyes at them.

"And if you break that promise... you die."

Jesse paused.

"... what?"

"That flower is extremely poisonous. The thorns are a warning. If you can feel them pricking you, that means you are on the verge of breaking your promise. And if breaks the surface of your skin..." Aiden's red eye glinted dangerously.

"Then you've broken your promise. And if you've done that..."

Jesse looked down at the beautiful flower on their wrist.

" _You're a dead man walking."_

The white no longer looked quite as innocent.


	54. In Which There Is A Lot of Yelling

"Jesse! JESSE!"

Romeo swore as he got no response from the tiny human. Reuben was squealing and whining and probably panicking a good deal because Jesse was still and silent and _not responding_.

What could he do...?

He flicked up the screens for the lords, almost fumbling and ringing up Xara in his haste.

Ivor.

If anything, Ivor was in Fortrylle, so he'd know how to stop the storm, or slow it down enough to find Jesse and Lukas, or–

 _Why hadn't he stopped the storm?_

 _He controlled the storms in Fortrylle so they didn't destroy everything._

 _Why had it gotten this bad?_

The screens flickered up, but Romeo waved away the other ones impatiently to lean closer to Ivor's.

It flickered in.

The old lord was struggling with an orb of glowing magic. Romeo could see that there were little tints of darkness in it, and Ivor was doing his best to dismiss them, but they just kept flying back.

Negative energy, he thought, and then dismissed the thought just as quickly. They had no time to waste.

"Ivor!" he almost barked, and really he respected the lord as much as the others, but with such a dire situation...

Ivor almost jumped and dropped it, spitting out a few foul swears as the magic orb wavered violently.

He barely managed to catch it and keep it steady, sparks flickering off his fingers. After doing a quick check, the older demon turned to Romeo, red eyes dark and angry at what might've been a near-disaster, but honestly Romeo had no idea. "What the hell, Romeo–"

The younger lord leaned forward, eyes hard. "There's a storm right outside Fortrylle, and Jesse is stuck in the middle of it with Lukas, both unconscious, surrounded by enough negative energy to kill an elephant. _Help them_ ," he almost spat.

The anger vanished almost immediately. "Jesse?" Ivor asked, concern flickering into his eyes.

"Yes, Jesse. And they're in a _storm_ right outside of Fortrylle, which _you_ should've been managing!" Romeo snapped back.

Ivor seemed to shake himself out of it.

Now that Romeo looked, he looked _tired_ – dark circles under his eyes. The lord's skin was almost sickly pale, and the magic orb, rather than looking strong and far more impressive than Romeo's as it usually did, looked wavery and weak and almost like someone could've poked it and made it crumple in on itself.

Romeo felt the spike of anger vanish as quickly as it had come. "Hey, Ivor... are... are you alright?"

"Fine. I'm fine," Ivor muttered, blinking hard as he set the magic orb aside. "Need to get some rest and recover after this, but fine. Do you know where they are?"

"Do you think I'd be freaking out if I knew where they were?"

Ivor sighed and lifted his hands, waving them easily and muttering a word that was lost on Romeo- he would've thought it was a swear if it was anyone else but Ivor, but Ivor only censored swear words around children and would otherwise swear so bad that a drunken sailor would've blushed his head off, so it was probably a magic word– and flickered up a cloudy, indistinct image that Romeo couldn't make out from where he was looking at Ivor from.

The older demon was starting to make his way up some stairs– _so he had been in the basement_ , Romeo noted absently for later– and quickening his pace.

"... completely smogged out," was a mumble that Romeo could make out.

Ivor's eyes flickered up to Romeo. "Terminate the call and get Isa or one of the others on the line. They have to be near your contracts," he said tersely. "Or just contact your contracts directly. Whichever you think is best."

Romeo nodded and immediately cut the call– it would be easier for Ivor to concentrate on stilling the storm if he wasn't focusing on also keeping the window open. Who to contact...

Not Lukas, that was for sure. He was probably unconscious at the moment.

Maya and Gill...? Perhaps, but he couldn't be sure they'd be quick enough.

Aiden's wings were the fastest option, and he moved the fastest as a shadow. He might just be able to find them both quickly.

Time was ticking down.

* * *

Aiden stopped in his tracks, making Petra turn back to look at him in slight confusion. The two of them had been running nearly over the whole damn city looking for Ivor, but the old demon was nowhere to be found, and Aiden had been the one to continuously sprint forward in an attempt to find him quick. Once or twice he'd briefly split off to make sure they hadn't missed anything.

He was really worried about Lukas.

"Aiden–"

"Romeo's aware of the situation," he muttered tersely.

Petra's heart jumped. Romeo? But how? He was at least a hundred miles away in Narvid, how could anyone–

Isa. Or Mevia. Or–

 _The mirror_.

The mirror was the most direct way to contact him and the simplest; and Jesse had had it.

So as long as they'd contacted him, they were alive.

Right?

Aiden's red eye flickered up, and then widened. "Ivor–?" He blurted.

Petra pivoted on her heel. Ivor was stalking up past some stairs, sickly pale and with bags under his eyes that were so obvious– especially in the sickly pallor of his face– that any anger she might've felt was stripped away to reveal concern instead.

"Woah, Ivor, you don't look so good. Maybe you should sit do–"

"Storm's stilled long enough to see through," Ivor shot back in a bark that automatically made her straighten. "Get them back inside and we can wait out the storm while I repair the storm orb."

The storm orb was Ivor's 'dumbed-down' version of explaining how he kept the weather steady in Enchantra, which easily had the most violent storms in Cosmos. Petra didn't really understand it, but it required some pretty heavy maintenance to keep storms at bay. It must've 'broken' for the storm to have built up this much.

Petra nodded and turned to Aiden. "There's a launch pad for winged demons down the street to the left. If you–"

"Got it!" And he was already a shadow blurring through the air towards it.

Ivor's eyes flickered up to Petra, dark blue and red duller than she remembered. "Get the October Children and Himira up here. We need to be ready to receive both of them when they get back."

She didn't dare argue or even make a remark, already shooting off back the way she'd come as fast as her legs could carry her.

There was a chance they'd be okay.

There was at least a chance, and that was all she needed.

* * *

 **A/N: This whole storm has lasted longer than I expected and morphed into its own little arc. I enjoy it deeply.**

 **Mainly because I enjoy writing things where I hurt my characters. I think that makes me a bad person xD**

 **RQTC: Have you ever had Japanese purin?**

 **Purin is an egg custard pudding that is kinda caramel flavored? I really love it. (But there's a specific brand at the convenience store that I'm like super into 'cause usually I hate eggs because of the taste and this brand of purin doesn't have that taste xD)**

 **Quick general clarification: the omakes are almost always things that got taken out of the story, or written as actual 'bloopers', as a kind of extra thing. They'll never have pertinent story information. You'll be able to tell because the omake will have a scene from a chapter that was much earlier on.**

 **I am a book. Reviews are my pages. I have a lot of pages. xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Syra Nyth: I'm really glad you enjoy it! / It is a good thing they had the mirror! And the magic thing does help, but having the negative energy in Lukas's system... well, actually, never mind, that's pretty bad too xD / I didn't really care about his character at first, but he really grew on me. I don't know, everyone in MCSM's kind of a dork. (Even Hadrian. Kind of. Though I absolutely don't like him as much as Romeo.) / Ahhh, I'm so glad you like it! Even if it gets a bit dark in places xD**

 **bungaMawar001: All of them suffer. xD / Doing... something. / Nope– it was, originally, but then I changed my mind to make Aiden less... nice. xD / Here is the next part!**

 **Happygoluckymegami: He's trying his best to make friends, it's just... absolutely the wrong thing to do. But yeah to the losing friends part. / It's not part of the story, it was part of the original plan but I changed my mind.**

 **Saran: He's doing his best right now xD / Yeah, Jesse's trying their best. But, uh, now they're unconscious xD / They're trying hard– but it's less putting themselves down and remembering the things others have said to them. As Soren and Harper have noticed, the pain comes from other people beating them down at almost every other opportunity. / Yeah, I took it out after a while because Aiden being an angry boi appealed to me xD / I'm really glad you're enjoying it!**

 **Darkbeast Dend: He is. / Yeah xD / Glad you enjoyed it!**

 **Northern Goshawk: He's doing his best from about a hundred miles away. xD / Not really? I see the connection now but in my original writing of October Children (which was awful) I was planning to have Jesse and Lukas end up together (this was when I still wrote Jesse as a girl, so... Lukesse) so the promise flower was there for that reason. It didn't make sense with Aiden though so I left it. / Yep! Back in an earlier chapter– Chapter 15. But I know, I was just clarifying in case xD / Ye :3**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

Aiden clears his throat and waves at a waitress that happens to be passing by. "Excuse me! We're ready to order..."

What's funny with how popular the cafe actually is is that the cafe does turn out food fast, and before long everyone's got food in front of them, with Jesse having a little bowl of...

Aiden stared at the bowl, which Jesse was happily eating and putting in their mouth at a speed that honestly made them wonder how they weren't burning their tongue off with how much steam was still coming off of it.

Then looked at Lukas.

"No, Jesse has no idea what's in it, and no, I'm not planning on clarifying," Lukas hissed under his breath. Despite the fact that most of his face hidden by a blindfold, his lips curved down, and Aiden had the very specific feeling that if he tried to open his mouth and even _breathe_ a hint of what the dish was made of, Lukas would stomp on half the flowers in his garden with no mercy or regrets.

He decided not to say anything.


	55. Black and Red and Mud and Pink

Aiden was shooting through the air like a bullet.

The smog was thick but he could see through it, and the earth was no longer being pelted by sheets of rain and blasts of thunder and the wind didn't tear at his wings and his body and throw dust in his face. He had a fairly clear view of the muddy ground below.

So that was something, at least.

He wished– dearly, dearly wished right now– that demons didn't have that habit of black and red. Sure, it made cleaning up after a bloody fight that much easier– but it made spotting two unconscious people dressed in those colors that much harder through the smog and the thick black mud and–

And there was a squeal, and he looked down, and his heart actually jumped for joy, if a half-demon's heart could even do that.

And if he still _had_ his heart, but that was not an important detail at the moment.

That stupid little vessel creature– that stupid, wonderful, _pink_ little pig was running in circles around two forms that he could barely make out and squealing like the world was about to end.

Aiden usually would've descended carefully, but there was no time to care about that or even attempt one– so he just shot towards the ground and landed in an impressive spray of mud and dropped next to them both.

Jesse's head was lifelessly resting on Lukas's shoulder, half of their torso draped across his chest like some kind of bizarre blanket. The blonde, mud-covered half-demon groaned slightly when Aiden shook him urgently, but otherwise had no response.

But both were breathing.

Both were _alive_.

He'd take that any day.

Aiden threw Lukas over his back, and then hesitated with Jesse for only a moment before scooping them up, Reuben oinking happily and leaping into Aiden's arms. He could tell the paused storm would only last a few minutes longer– already a few drops that stung like acid were dripping onto his head.

He could hear negative energy buzzing around like hornets, searching for a host, so he gritted his teeth and morphed into a shadow– feeling Lukas do the same on his back– and launched off.

He was now on borrowed time. Borrowed time for Ivor's hold on the storm to snap and break and release the full hell of storm on them all.

Borrowed time for Jesse to dissolve into shadows themselves.

Half-demons could handle turning into a shadow form, or having a shadow form touch them. Being half made up of shadows as a demon meant their body adapted. Could handle it.

But humans didn't have that same kind of tolerance to being turned into pure darkness.

Didn't have the same method of staying whole and pure and _themselves_ , and not pure darkness and shadow and negative energy that festered into something monstrous.

He glanced down at Jesse as a few more drops of rain began to plink through the smog, the clouds thickening and darkening until he was squinting through them. The little human was handling it better than he'd expected, the parts where he was making contact with them leaking drops of shadow onto their skin like drops of ink on paper.

But less than he'd expected.

Maybe the whole thing with their magic sensitivity wait _why was he theorizing about why they were handling this well they might_ die _if he didn't hurry the hell up_ –

His wings went into overdrive, and he thought he'd been going fast before– but now he was being propelled through the air, drops of acidic rain dotting his skin like little bullets, and he dove around a blob of negative energy so sharply he almost shot at the ground–

He hauled out of the nosedive at the last second and very nearly avoided breaking his whole face by plowing himself three feet under dirt while rocketing at full speed, the smog thickening around him, but he could still see the damn landing area, he just had to speed up–

Red eye flickered down to Jesse. The patches had grown larger, slowly spreading across their little body, but it was thankfully not _too_ bad yet–

The smog darkened.

Just a bit farther–

He almost crashed onto the landing area and slammed straight into Harper, all four of them hitting the ground hard. The older demon made only a slight sound of surprise, but he'd jerked upright and shoved Jesse at her, patches of shadow creeping over their skin.

"Infirmary. Hospital. Whatever the fuck it is. _Now!_ " he yelled.

He had to give all of the lords this; as much as they took the fact that they were lords into account, they never let it go to their head and make their superiority get in the way of urgent matters.

Harper nodded and scooped up Jesse's tiny body; she was halfway down the street before Aiden could even get in another breath to haul Lukas up himself.

* * *

Jesse woke up practically swaddled in blankets like a baby and in someone's arms.

It was very warm and cozy; so great on that, but they felt sore all over and possibly like they'd just been flattened like a truck, so they just grumbled and wiggled a little.

Ivor was holding them with Harper sitting next to them, the two sitting in absolute (but very companionable) silence. Both lords looked down at Jesse.

Relief crossed Ivor's face, and he ran his thumb over their forehead. "Hello," he said.

He looked tired. Ghastly pale with dark circles under his eyes that would've stood out even if he _wasn't_ horrifically pale but looked like someone had drawn on his skin with a Sharpie with his skin that pale. Harper looked normal, if a little frazzled– some white hair had started frizzing; she looked relieved as well.

Jesse muttered something incoherent and pressed their face to Ivor's stomach, deciding not to question him about why he was so pale. "Can I get my legs out? I'm in the fetal position and my back doesn't like it."

Ivor laughed– a slightly ragged sound, with how tired he looked, but he laughed and it was still pleasant– and began to unwrap the blankets somewhat. "Alright. Thought we'd warm you up."

Jesse managed to wiggle slightly before something abruptly occurred to them and their head snapped up so fast it could have potentially broken their neck if for some reason they'd been obstructed in some way. "Lukas. Is Lukas okay?" they asked him anxiously.

Harper was quick to nod. "Fine."

She lifted an arm to point; Jesse twisted to see the blonde half-demon lying in bed with his muddy clothes off in favor of a change of clothes that looked comfortable enough. He was breathing easily and he didn't look too much worse for the wear, besides being a teensy bit pale. "Resting."

Jesse settled back into Ivor's grip, relief filtering into the brief bit of panic. "Oh." Then– "Good."

After a bit of curling against his chest and listening to the lord's heartbeat ( _the demons had heartbeats; so strange_ ), Jesse blinked up at them with big eyes. "Why were you two sitting together?"

"Harper wanted to act out her fantasy of marrying Ivor and having a kid," Mevia responded from where she was restraining Reuben from squirming out and running around Jesse squealing in a panic.

Jesse had never seen anyone lunge so quickly at someone. Or turn that red, although they couldn't tell if Ivor or Harper was redder.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you Mevia, Harper needed to be embarrassed xD**

 **Fun fact. Evidently I strained my back by... sitting in a chair funny.**

 **I don't really know how I did that xD**

 **RQTC: How many of you are grossed out by graphic descriptions of violence?**

 **Honestly, as long as people don't go "bits of flesh and muscle and torn [insert disgusting imagery here]", I'm surprisingly not that squeamish. Then again, the most graphic thing I have written is someone getting their head taken off, but I don't think I described it as... super graphically as someone probably would've.**

 **I am an owl. Reviews are my food. I am a very full sleepy owl.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Happygoluckymegami: I've never seen purin in anime, weirdly enough. xD I don't think I watch enough anime to qualify. / I'm sure she'd love to ;) / Nope.**

 **Syra Nyth: Hehe, Ivor and Harper might steal them away from Romeo xD / It's an interesting problem, to be sure. / Lol, fair enough. / He got there in the nick of time. :3 Thanks Reuben, glad you're pink. / Yeah, I can eat like... lava eggs (with the yolk undercooked), but the white disgusts me. I don't know why, it just automatically triggers my gag reflex if the taste gets too into my mouth xD**

 **Northern Goshawk: He does have some explaining to do. xD / I think they'd just revive Jesse and then wrap them in about seven layers of bubble wrap xD / Oh, definitely. Probably Aiden more than the others, though of course he still 'doesn't like them'. (cough)lies(cough) / No, they wouldn't like knowing xD**

 **bungaMawar001: Yay! / I cannot vocalize until next chapter xD / They're fun to write/remember. / Oh, you think he's terrifying _now_. xD**

 **idontwritetoomuch: It does, but sometimes the egg taste is super overpowering and then I don't like it. That being said I try not to look at the texture too much, I have trypophobia and it gives me the heebie-jeebies. (And I googled trypophobia to make sure I was spelling it right and boy, that gave me shivers. My cousin has it too though so I don't feel lonely xD) / It's not something Jesse wants to know about. And Ivor's not really tired from lack of sleep, though that does not help xD / A little while is... uh xD / I hope you're having a good morning/night!**

 **Saran: They're trying their best xD / Heh, yeah. / She knows full well, yeah xD / Protect the cinnamon roll. / I'm glad you enjoyed it!**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

Romeo's snapped back into his thoughts as the orb chimes, an illusion snaking out from the top and forming a screen above the orb.

His stomach gives a small, small, tight twist at who it is that picks up.

"What the hell is– _shit_ ," Xara abruptly yelled as she accidentally knocked over the camera for her screen, sending it skittering sideways. Her further attempts at grabbing it and resetting it knocked it off the desk entirely and very nearly punted it into the wall.

Romeo dissolved into hysterical laughter, gripping the desk to avoid meeting the same fate as the camera. He very nearly fell over entirely from how hard he was laughing.

Xara huffed, cheeks pink as she glared at him and tried not to laugh herself. "Shut the _fuck_ up Romeo–"

"Cut!"


	56. Explanations in the Infirmary

The storm lasted a full three days, thundering down on Fortrylle, which was thankfully safe from the worst of it, all of the citizens staying indoors or in the branches– which, as Jesse learned, had a sort of 'underground' walkway system that was reminiscent of a subway, except you never got on the subway and rode it.

There was a distinct lack of cars and stuff in Cosmos, Jesse had noticed.

Jesse came down with something of a cold from being stuck out in the filthy mud and also being soaking wet, but they reassured everyone that this was okay– much preferable to being dead, after all– and so spent two of the three days sniffling and cuddling a perfectly happy Reuben while everyone sat with them and chatted with them. Ivor spent at least half a day talking to them about magic before he got dragged away for other matters.

Lukas came out just fine as well, having gotten almost all the negative energy purged by Jesse when they'd done it and so only needing to pump out enough to fill a tiny medicine cup that clung to his insides, but he ended up feeling fine and chatting with Jesse when they got too bored.

It was the third day– the storm letting up into just sheets of rain, which Jesse could accept– when Ivor called them all into a meeting over why he'd called them there– and also why the storm had gotten as bad as it had. Unfortunately, due to Jesse's 'cold' and Lukas's being a bit tired from the whole negative energy thing, they didn't want to put them in a formal meeting room, as none of them were very comfortable.

So now here they were. Sitting together in the infirmary, which had been the biggest room that didn't feel super formal or stiff for Jesse and Lukas.

Ivor cleared his throat. He and Harper were sitting together with Jesse sandwiched between them. "I've set up a spell to block anyone who doesn't know anything about the matter from overhearing. Not like there's any secret information, but if we end up discussing sensitive things it'll be better to not get overheard."

"Thanks, Ivor," Maya said with a bright kind of smile as she forced Aiden to sit between her and Gill– a development he didn't seem all that pleased with, since he was foretelling the flirting– uh, arguing– that would take place during the meeting.

Jesse had noticed him mumbling a word around a perimeter around the bed, but they hadn't realized that he could do magic that subtly.

"I'm sure you're wondering what happened with the storm."

He sent Jesse a sympathetic, apologetic look as they blew their nose. "I would like to apologize about that, by the way– the storm orb cracked and repairing it took a while."

Lukas waved him off. "Everyone slips up. Nobody got hurt bad in the end, so it's good," he said offhandedly.

 _Easy for him to say_ , everyone else seemed to be saying mentally if the looks sent his way were any indication.

"Still." Ivor rubbed his hand down his face. "I'd been so absorbed in the negative energy issue..."

Gill frowned. "Negative energy issue?" he echoed.

Ivor sighed and nodded. "For some reason, there have been negative energy outbreaks in the cities on the border of Enchantra. Those being Redstonia, Boom Town, and the Sunshine Institute."

Jesse had to wonder why that last one was classified as a city. The name sounded more like some kind of hospital.

"The Sunshine Institute is generally where the criminals end up; either to whip them into shape or to keep them from doing worse things on the outside," Petra told Jesse quietly, upon spotting their perplexed look.

"Oh."

Isa frowned and leaned forward. "Outbreaks? You mean people have gotten infected?"

Ivor shook his head. "Thankfully not– citizens are smart enough to notice it and get as far away as possible. No, I mean the energy somehow ended up _inside_ the walls."

"What?" Mevia was frowning. "This is a problem that might happen in Yurin or Narvid, not Enchantra. I know that Redstonia and the Sunshine Institute are risk, since they do border the new districts– and I suppose Boom Town– but the dormant magic in Enchantra alone is usually enough to force everything from trying to enter."

Ivor sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. "You think that didn't occur to me?" he griped, but the grumble seemed to stem from frustration at the problem and not frustration at Mevia herself. "I've been up for a few nights trying to expel most of it, but unfortunately that made the monthly maintenance of the storm orb completely slip my mind..."

Jesse frowned, quietly and patiently kicking their feet. "Um... expel it?"

"Yes, from the borders of the city," Ivor replied, with some semblance of patience. "It's fine roaming about in the wild, but in a city it could easily take over a person and turn them into who _knows_ what. Soren thinks Endermen are humans that got caught outside the gates at night, but I honestly have no idea and truthfully do not care enough to research at this point."

Jesse thought to the terrifying teeth of an Enderman.

Yeah, they could see why.

"Hence why I've been trying to expel it using long-distance magic, but it's a pretty bad outbreak, because it won't go away permanently. That is to say, most of it is gone, but there are some bits lurking inside each city that I can't quite rid them of," the lord murmured, seeming to sink into thought.

Harper, Isa, and Mevia all exchanged looks, then proceeded to chorus in perfect unison. "So you want us to help with the issue," they chimed in a weirdly perfect chorus.

"Ugh, that was creepy..."

Maya kicked Gill, catching Aiden in the shin a bit by accident.

The half-demon caught in the center took a long, deep sigh, eye (including the one behind his eyepatch) flickering shut in sheer irritation. "You're lucky I enjoy your company," he said, after a long moment.

* * *

 **A/N: Poor Aiden xD**

 **I think basically at this point I've just been doing daily updates; if that bothers you or isn't great for some reason, please do tell me xD**

 **Yay, negative energy. xD**

 **RQTC: Is there another one of my stories you'd like me to finish?**

 **I might try to work on the Fairytale Curse. Otherwise I might just start discontinuing old fics for good.**

 **I am a pencil. Reviews are my lead. I'm not a pencil stub xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Northern Goshawk: Heh, yeah, thanks, Mevia. xD / Thank Reuben too; his being pink helped a lot. xD / Very valid xD / They're never lord-like. I don't think a lord would let what was technically an underling cuss at them xD / Yaaaay :D**

 **Syra Nyth: Yep! Or else the October Children may have rioted xD / Well... _not_ worry about Jesse xD / Yaaaay :D / I can imagine Harper having a small fantasy like that, though Mevia was mostly teasing. xD / Hehe. / I'm glad you liked it!**

 **bungaMawar001: Very smol. xD / No, actually, it was 13 days or so until they died due to their heart disappearing in Cosmos. Reuben being a vessel creature basically took away the time limit. And the rest of the questions are unanswerable xD / Hehe xD**

 **Happygoluckymegami: Yes, good job to Aiden. xD / To a point she was mostly teasing Harper, but Harper _does_ like the idea of having a kid. And she does like Ivor. xD / Well, Yandere Sim is super cartoony, so... I mean, the decapitation doesn't exactly make me super happy, but there's worse xD **

**Saran: Yeah, Aiden's great. But Reuben's pinkness was also a contributing factor xD / Yes, Ivor does need rest xD / Hehehe. / Xara's doing her best xD I'm really glad you're enjoying it!**

 **That's all for now. See ya, so long, and enjoy!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

Jesse looked at the axe embedded in the floor, having just missed them on their way into the bathroom.

Then up at Romeo.

"You're lucky I'm not a kid and can hold my bladder," they deadpanned, "or else we'd have a mess to clean up."

Romeo looked down at the axe in the floor as well. "... that's true."

A short silence.

"... the bathroom's not booby-trapped for when I exit, is it?"

"You're so suspicious right now..." If Romeo could've sweat-dropped like he was in an anime, he probably would've right then.


	57. Assistant

Ivor nodded, giving a faintly apologetic look. "Yes... I'm very sorry for the short notice, but–"

Harper shook her head almost immediately. "No issue."

Petra nodded. "Yeah. I mean, it's basically my job to help you, so I don't mind either. And the other October Children don't mind, right?"

The others immediately shook their heads. The quicker they sorted the issue, the less they had to worry about beyond the gates and the keys and the party– none of them could afford to worry or be distracted when they went.

They almost did it in unison actually, which made Jesse hide a huge smile.

Gill glanced at Jesse and frowned. "Uh... I don't know if Jesse can really be of much help while they're, uh..."

Everyone looked at Jesse, who blinked back at them with big eyes.

"Blowing snot out of my nose every ten seconds," Jesse chimed in, proceeding to, indeed, blow their nose about a second after they finished that.

Maya laughed and ruffled their hair. "Sounds about right," she said teasingly.

Gill hid a grin and nodded. "Yeah. But I'm kinda worried that, uh..." He hesitated, glancing at Jesse as they rubbed their slightly pink nose, and continued, a bit more hesitantly. "Jesse might end up in a hairy spot if they come along with one of us. Having a cold doesn't exactly help your reflexes or anything... but, then, I don't want to leave them alone, since..."

"Basically he's scared they're going to be a nuisance and he's being a paranoid bastard," Aiden replied bluntly.

Maya and Gill simultaneously dug their elbows into his side.

"Um... ma-maybe you guys can split up?"

Everyone turned to look at Radar while Aiden swore and grabbed a nearby pillow to practically bludgeon the two of them with.

He flushed, but upon spotting Jack's encouraging look he swallowed his nervousness and spoke up. "Like... like Jesse can stay with someone to help as necessary but stay on the back-lines so they're, uh, safer, and then the rest of you split off into three groups to go-go deal with the issue? Like... Gill, Maya and Mevia and, uh, me I guess can be in a group, then, um, Isa, Lukas, Nurm, and Aiden, and then Petra, Jack, Harper and Ivor..." the young demon murmured, adjusting his glasses. "I'm, uh, n-not too helpful in a fight, but tactically I'm not... too... bad..."

He trailed off, face going red as he realized everyone was looking at him quite intently as they pondered this option.

Nurm signed quickly– a bit too quickly for Jesse to spot, especially since they were a bit preoccupied blowing their nose.

Jack nodded and translated that "Nurmie said he won't mind tagging along too."

Petra hummed, scratching her chin. "Yeah, I don't see too big of a problem with that," she said, perhaps innocently unaware of the fact that Gill and Maya were starting to protest the grouping despite Aiden still whacking them with a pillow and the fact that Harper and Ivor were a wee bit pink now.

Jesse blew their nose and considered the way her look was _incredibly_ innocent. She practically had doe eyes and had her head tilted to one side.

(Actually, she looked a little like Jesse right now, except the way she looked innocent just seemed unnatural and a little _too_ innocent, while Jesse just naturally seemed to do that.)

Yeah, no, she absolutely knew what she was doing.

"Hang on, though... that doesn't leave Jesse with someone to accompany them," Lukas pointed out quickly, glancing around the room of people and doing a second head-count and coming up at around the same that Radar had. "Maybe one of us should stay back?"

Harper shook her head. "Bad idea." She made a small hand gesture indicating some kind of negative energy... aura thing and then shook her head again. "Need everyone."

"Yes, I think we might need everyone to tackle this issue, considering I couldn't simply expel it from where I was..."

Ivor considered this, biting his lip for a moment as he considered the options before nodding. "I think Jesse can go with one of my assistants and provide assistance where necessary. He's not a contract," he remarked quickly when he saw Mevia's head come up. "You know him, Mevia."

Realization dawned on her face, and she quickly scowled. "He'll just murder Jesse immediately, he hates kids."

Ignoring the very comforting aspect of that statement...

"Technically I'm a teenager," Jesse piped up meekly.

Harper absently patted their head.

Lukas glanced between the two of them. Or, at least, they could only assume Lukas glanced between Ivor and a scowling Mevia, as his blindfold did make whatever direction he was looking in slightly unclear. "Uh... are you talking about who I think you're talking about?"

Ivor gave a faintly apologetic shrug. "It only makes sense," he told a faintly frowning Harper when he saw her expression. "His special ability is teleporting, though he can only do it once a day, so he's probably the quickest option for receiving help if you end up needing it."

"I hate him."

Isa elbowed Mevia with an unimpressed look at her flat declaration.

"I'm being honest! You don't like him either," Mevia said, narrowing her eyes at Isa in a half-joking way.

The black-haired demon lord sighed in slight exasperation. " _Nobody_ likes him, Mev."

"Glad to hear it."

Ivor glanced to his left at the sudden unfamiliar voice. Isa had tensed slightly, while Aiden had stopped whacking Maya and Gill with a pillow and looked a bit like he might turn the pillow on the source of the new voice.

Jesse's eyes followed his and they started; there was a man– _demon_ , they corrected themselves; nobody here was really a _man_ – standing beside him, as if he'd materiaized out of nowhere. His hair was much like Harper's– a shock of white– but cropped short.

He wore glasses that tinted slightly, his mustache a lot neater than Soren's unruly hairstyle. The violet suit he wore was almost perfectly impeccable, compared to Mevia's robes and Isa's dress and Harper's lab-coat-robe thing and Ivor's armor. The kind of thing you'd wear at an office, Jesse thought, except most people at an office didn't wear a bright purple plaid suit and a gold tie-thing to work.

"Oh. Good timing," the blue-clad lord said simply.

Mevia scowled at him. Actually, it probably could've been compared to a glare more than anything else.

"Hello, Hadrian."

* * *

 **A/N: Oh my. xD**

 **Jesse'll have an interesting time, sticking around with Hadrian.**

 **RQTC: Do you have stuffed animals that are named anything?**

 **I have a squishy shiba plushie called Potato, a pink Pusheen pillow/plush called Squishy, and a (very flat) Webkinz duck named Rosie. I also have a penguin named Tony.**

 **I am a phone. Reviews are my battery. I'm not dead yet. xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Northern Goshawk: Yep! Though it might be a good several chapters before we bump into them. Though we do see Magnus and Axel again soon xD / Except Soren, but then his sanity was in question anyway xD / Nope xD / Only a couple? There's only six lords right now and Jesse has five of them on their side xD / You know... yeah, I should get on that xD**

 **Happygoluckymegami: Yaaay! / They never will. xD / I think I put the A/N on Cinematic Mode, but I've definitely discontinued that– too many ideas have changed since then as well as my writing style and I don't really have the patience to just repeat what I've written. Composite might be the next one I finish though.**

 **Syra Nyth: Hehe, yeah, many people were pretty cheerful about it. / Perhaps... / Aiden's lovely, he's just also a bit of a tsundere. / I'm glad to hear you like all of them! To be honest there's probably a good several I'll just have to discontinue; I write fanfiction a lot less than I used to.**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

"Though, uh," Romeo glanced down at Reuben, who was quietly snuffling against Jesse's chest, his lips twitching into a smile. "I've never seen a vessel creature be a pig before."

"Well, th–" Gill yelped as there was abruptly the sound of something chewing on his sleeve.

The camera panned down to show that Lluna had somehow meandered onto the set and started munching on the hem of Gill's pants.

Maya cracked up. "Oh, so the llama wants to get in your pants."

Gill flailed at her while simultaneously shooing at Lluna frantically. "Get off, you weirdo llama!"

Lluna bleated through her mouthful of fabric and continued munching, Gill giving an odd whining sound and frantically trying to bat her off without actually smacking the llama. " _Shit_ she's got the band on my underwear–"

Lukas started laughing himself, and Aiden pressed his face into his hand. His shoulders were shaking, but it was the kind of way you'd shake when you repressed laughter as much as you could.

"No, Lluna, you'll ruin his pants..." Jesse had gone over and was gently trying to detach the little cream-colored llama. Of course, Lluna being stubborn, she just munched more insistently.

The cloth ripped slightly. "Lluna! No!"

Stella chuckled and went over. "Alright, Lluna, get off before Gill yells that you're a pervert."


	58. Discussions at Night

**TRIGGER WARNING: Mention of sexual assault, mention of abuse. Very light; no details.**

* * *

The rest of the meeting went by quickly. Jesse sensed it half had to do with the fact that they were still in the middle of their 'cold' mode and sniffling and trying not to drip snot everywhere, and...

Half to do with the fact that Ivor was trying to avoid Mevia murdering Hadrian on the spot.

Before long everyone was going to bed and the sky was dark and glittering with stars...

Actually, Jesse was pretty sure it was because they were sick; there was no way it had gone from morning to _night_ that quickly.

They'd probably zoned out during the meeting at some point; somehow not noticing it, and then sometime between the meals and the attempt at talking to Hadrian that did _not_ last very long due to him seeming more than a _little_ annoyed at having to deal with them, time just shot by in the blink of an eye, and Lukas was setting Jesse in the infirmary bed and ruffling their hair.

"You should get some sleep. It'll be good for your cold," he told them gently.

Jesse frowned slightly. "You're not going to sleep?"

"Nah. Gotta go talk to Harper." The blonde half-demon shrugged. "She said she needed to talk with us really quick before we headed out tomorrow."

"Do I have to go?"

"No, you're exempted 'cause of your cold," Lukas smiled and ruffled Jesse's hair. "Lucky. I wanna get extra sleep too."

Jesse giggled, and Lukas smiled before he slipped out.

Reuben snuffled. Jesse pulled the little pig to their chest. He was warm... was it weird that he was? He _was_ a vessel creature, so maybe that was just how they were...

The little pig wiggled so that his little body was curled right up against theirs, and they slipped into sleep from the sound of their own heartbeat.

* * *

Lukas was smiling as he made his way into the hall.

It slipped a moment later.

He had been smiling because Jesse had bought the lie.

They were not exempted because of their cold; they were exempted because Harper had not wanted them to come at all.

He made his way through the hallways; they were ornate (not as ornate as the Underneath, but still things that felt very magical decorating the area). She'd been pretty insistent that they not be present, although Lukas had suggested if she was trying to protect them, she didn't have to; they were pretty good (well, they now didn't go practically catatonic at the sight of blood) with gore now.

Her reply was a shake of the head and a simple "Better", which he took to mean it would be better if they were nowhere near the conversation.

He tried to keep this in mind as he slipped into the conference room where the others were waiting; Jack, Radar and Nurm were probably off getting ready. He noticed with a faint note of confusion that Hadrian was in the room; he supposed that since he was going to be Jesse's guardian for a few weeks ( _great_ ) this was information he needed to know as well.

"Is this important, Harper?" Hadrian asked her impatiently, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but right here at that moment. "You do have to get an early start in the morning."

"You can leave if you want," Mevia shot back at him.

Harper twisted her fingers.

"It's Jesse," she said at last, quietly.

"What about Jesse?" Ivor was frowning now. In fact, most everyone was looking at her intently, although Hadrian did roll his eyes.

The demon lord tilted her head down, considering her words. _Someone hurt Jesse_ was too vague and could be misconstrued; she had to pick her words carefully, especially considering all of the non-lord people in here that made her struggle to piece together her words into coherent sentences.

"... I suspect someone..." The word stuck fast in her throat with an abruptness that surprised her; it was stuck and she couldn't get it out. Part of it might've been that she hadn't spoken in full sentences in front of anyone except Ivor and Mevia and Isa in a long while, but she didn't think that was it.

It wasn't a pretty word. Not the definition, not the sound. There were some words that _sounded_ alright but had really horrific meanings, and this... this word was awful in every sense of the word.

And she couldn't say that.

Not about Jesse.

The word was choking her, so she refused to spit it out and let it go and instead let different words slip past, words that meant the same thing but that could make it past her throat because she was choking on the word.

"... sexually assaulted them."

Aiden frowned, but nodded, even as Ivor went ramrod straight in shock at those words and Hadrian's eyes flickered back to Harper. "Yeah, recently. Remember? Sirena–"

Harper shook her head. "No."

Aiden paused.

Turned slowly to look at Harper.

His brow creased.

"What do you mean, _no_?"

Isa took Harper's hand, glancing at Aiden. "Harper has... an ability. Many demon lords and barons gain an extraneous ability, sometimes when they split– like we did– or when they come into power, or when they become a half-demon. I know Lukas has... _something_ , and Soren has the ability to see pain. Harper has the ability to..."

She stalled, trying to find good words for it, and Mevia segued into her own, very blunt explanation almost flawlessly. "Harper has the ability to sense when something's been _done_ to a person. Kind of like Soren's ability, except she can pick out what things have been _done_ to them. Like..."

She faltered, and looked at Harper. "Like abuse. Mental or physical. Or... or being..."

Her own tongue faltered on the words.

Harper often found her own silence to be a bit deafening. Nothing except the sound of tinkering and redstone and machinery and nothing else. She rarely even spoke or turned on a jukebox to fill the silence, unlike Mevia, who'd occasionally hum random bits of songs that simply sounded odd out of context.

But she could've told you, here and now, she had never heard a silence so absolutely deafening and stifling and choking as the one that fell over the room at the realization.

Someone had _done that_ to Jesse.

Someone had done that to a _seventeen-year-old_.

That bothered her more than the abuse. More than being beaten down by a father or a parent or every person who ever met them, every human that they'd ever come across taking every chance to beat them down and hurt them and break them.

And though they only sat in silence for a few seconds– maybe half a minute at the longest– Harper drowned in the silence.

* * *

 **A/N: ... well.**

 **At least the others know, now, I suppose.**

 **Anyone wondering how Jesse's doing on their own, left alone in the infirmary?**

 **RQTC: Is there a type of music you like to listen to?**

 **I used to say everything except hardcore EDM and some metal, but now I just answer Taylor Swift. It's pretty honest because I have a playlist with every album of Taylor Swift on my phone and I just... sit and listen to it. It's the fastest way to get me feeling sappy. Not... the best thing considering I listen to it while writing this story.**

 **I am a clock. Reviews are the batteries. I am broken from sheer amount of battery.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy?**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

The infirmary was empty and quiet, the sound of people chattering in the market below filtering through the window so quietly it was like a whispered lullaby.

Reuben snuffled in his sleep, curling closer to Jesse. They sniffled in their sleep, still a little stuffed up and sounding like a stuffed-up version of Reuben, and pressed their face to the little pig.

There was the creak of a door.

The filtering of blue light into the room, which was cut off a moment later as the nurse slipped through the door, easing footsteps across the floor near-silently.

She looked up for her target and found it almost instantly; it would've been hard to miss, with them being the only occupied bed in the whole infirmary.

She smiled.

Lifted the thing she'd been keeping under her apron.

The tip of the syringe gleamed in the moonlight, catching the light even near the door, as far from the window as she could get.

"I never thought I'd get you alone."


	59. Backed Into a Corner

"... Jesse's been hurt, then. Is that a correct statement?"

Ivor took a while to speak up, but when he did, his voice was unsteady and thoughtful. Deeply thoughtful.

And deeply worried.

Harper nodded almost instantly, her brow creasing. "Badly."

She looked back up at him, her red-and-gray eyes gleaming in concern. "Mentally. Violated."

( _Petra noticed that Harper's vocalization skills had regressed to one-word sentences; she supposed anxiety or worry might be the culprit in this case along with her simply being uncomfortable with talking to people._ )

"So they're mentally in bad shape... and they've also been physically violated," Isa translated, with a glum kind of confirming nod from Harper.

Aiden frowned, brow creasing deeply. "If they're mentally in bad shape... are you worrying that they might snap or something and lose their mind? Is that the main concern here?"

Gill frowned. The idea of losing Jesse– happy, cheerful, innocent Jesse– to that dark place again, or worse...

* * *

The nurse eased closer, steps quiet and low and calculated, to avoid creating much noise. She moved like a ghost across the floor, lifting the syringe. The empty glass tube glistened as well as the metal needle.

It was the sharpest thing that made sense for a nurse to carry, after all.

Reuben snuffled and lifted his little head sleepily.

She paused, then dismissed the little pig as a threat, slowly easing closer on gentle steps. As long as the pig didn't squeal, or suspect what she was doing... it would be a quick kill.

Easy in, easy out. No heart, but...

Still a tasty treat, even without it.

Reuben lifted his head more, blinking big sleepy eyes at the nurse and taking in more details. He snuffled, as if wondering what kind of important thing a nurse had to do at this time of night.

The nurse picked him up with scarily gentle hands, shushing the tiny animal and setting him on the floor. The little pig ended up on the floor, whining softly.

She flicked up the syringe into a reverse grip– as if gripping a knife and preparing to stab down.

Reuben gave a little sound of alarm, big brow eyes widening as if in realization.

* * *

Ivor was frowning, and he shook his head. "No, no. That's not what I'm worried about."

At everyone's completely confused looks, he quickly decided to clarify. "I'd have to ask Romeo... but if he was holding their heart before it was in Reuben, and he couldn't actually make contact with it... then there's a chance Reuben's a lot more dangerous than he actually appears."

"Reuben? The pig?" Gill looked confused.

Ivor nodded. "Yes. See, when hearts that gain vessel creatures have a barrier, it means that they have walls. Like, walls they've _put up_ around themselves, to protect themselves."

Lukas frowned slightly, as if that somewhat registered with him, but stayed silent.

"Sometimes it's a wall that means they don't trust people, a wall meaning they try to pull back so they don't get hurt, or a wall that means that they lash out at people.

"And those hearts have the most vicious vessel creatures."

* * *

Reuben squealed– except right as the first sound exited Reuben's mouth, the nurse kicked the little pig away. Reuben rolled across the floor, ending up near the door, far from Jesse.

His little heartbeat pounded quicker, and Jesse rolled, murmuring in their sleep.

The nurse– or whoever this person was, this attacker– twirled the syringe in her fingers, absently licking her lips, as if she was ready to bite down.

Too far.

He was too far from Jesse.

His heart– _Jesse's_ heart– pounded faster. Even without their heart in their body, if she aimed for their eye or their neck...

They'd die.

* * *

Aiden's brow creased. "... I don't think a _pig_ counts as a really vicious vessel creature, Ivor."

Ivor shook his head. "They don't _look_ dangerous. It's like Jesse– Isa said their reflexes and agility are extremely good, right?"

Mevia nodded. "It's almost superhuman– but there's still a human quality to it. It's not quite quick enough for a demon whose level of agility is high, especially with us mostly going easy on them, but they have enough speed, tactics, and force to take out low-level demons."

"Right. They look like the weak link, but I suspect if backed into a corner or having their loved ones in true danger, they might turn into a force to really be reckoned with," Ivor suggested helpfully.

* * *

Killer. There was a _killer_ in the room, what did he do...

A little panicked, Reuben paced the floor, squealing quietly, trying to wake Jesse up, but they were deeply entrenched in sleep because they didn't wake up, they _had to wake up_ but they _weren't waking up_...

There was no time. No time at all, no time, nobody anywhere near enough to help.

A small chuckle escaped the nurse's throat as she lifted the syringe. "You're lucky I don't like my prey squirming," she said to a sleeping Jesse's little body as the syringe glimmered like... like a...

Knife.

In a small panic, the little pig began to run in little circles, whining weakly.

Reuben might not die without their heart, but Jesse...

A hit to anything– their throat, their eye– could still kill them. He had to do something, he had to get help, but if he left Jesse would die and then what was the little pig...?

Useless.

What did he do, what did he do, he couldn't run and get help, not while the syringe lifted above Jesse's silent, sleeping body...

A moment later, the little pig came to a halt, lifting his little head to stare at the nurse.

* * *

"So... what does that mean for Reuben, if that's how Jesse is?" Petra asked, frowning and crossing her arms as she leaned forward on the table.

"He is the same way. He might try anything to get help first, or to get Jesse to safety... but if he's backed into a corner, he will attack, and he will be vicious. I suspect that might not even be Reuben's real form..."

Aiden frowned. "I don't know, Ivor... the pig seems pretty harmless."

There was abruptly tremendous squeal– almost a piglet's scream.

Reuben.

Harper nearly catapulted herself out of her chair, already tearing off back towards the infirmary. Aiden was right on her heels, surprisingly, fast enough that he actually beat Lukas out of his chair. Everyone tore out of the chairs– Ivor knocked his over– and shot towards the infirmary.

Harper threw the door open– and froze in her steps.

"Harper? What? Is everything okay? Dammit, move, would y–" Aiden pushed past her a little roughly and froze himself.

The nurse– or the intruder, though they were certainly dressed as a nurse– was lying flat on her back on the ground, deader than a doornail. Her eyes were rolled back in her head, once-red irises now dull and soulless.

There was blood oozing around the massive gash in her thigh, and the hole through her stomach, pumping steadily out and perfuming the air with the smell of copper.

Bloody-covered, smearing the demon's blood onto the blanket, was Reuben, quietly curled up against Jesse's chest.

If he was backed into a corner, he would come out fighting.

"Do you still think Reuben's harmless?" Ivor murmured.

* * *

 **A/N: There is a part in the chapter where you might be able to figure out exactly what Reuben is– try to see if you can find it!**

 **If enough people guess, I'll put up another hint tomorrow.**

 **I have a Discord where you can talk to me about stories and stuff now! The link is... a bit butchered by FFN, but if you paste this in and get rid of the spaces, you get to... I don't know, say hi to me. xD**

 **discord . gg / U9jAuAa**

 **I may or may not talk about October Children there ;3**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **bungaMawar001: Indeed. / Who knows? :) / Not sure what you mean by if Jesse knows what happened to them... yes, they know what happened to themselves very clearly. They just don't vocalize it in public.**

 **Syra Nyth: Yes, the sleeping is a nice benefit. xD / Who knows? They'll probably be more careful around Jesse... though Hadrian is hard to tell. / Nope, sneak preview. xD**

 **Darkbeast Dend: I hope you get better soon. Glad you enjoyed the chapters!**

 **Northern Goshawk: Yep. / Well, the difference was that in the forest, Jesse meandered off, whereas here, they feel like it would be a lot more safe, since there are guards outside the buildings where Ivor lives and the infirmary is deep within, so they figured an intruder wouldn't be able to sneak in. / I have no clue who you're referring to xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

"I can't believe Jesse just kicked an incubus's dick in," Maya mumbled to Gill, Petra still carrying Jesse up ahead from where they'd been shivering since the fight.

Well, it was less of a fight and more of a slaughter-fest.

Gill ignored their usual bantering... and by bantering, he meant cussing at Maya like there was no tomorrow... in favor of instead snickering slightly. "I mean, I know we shouldn't be laughing, but... did you hear him squeak?"

Aiden proceeded to slam his fist down full-force on top of Maya's head, almost knocking her flat into the floor from where she was standing. "Quit talking about it, would you? Lukas is going to murder you two in a minute if you don't hush up about how Jesse kicked an incubus in the balls."

"I'll murder you too, Aiden," Lukas shot at him without turning around.

"See?"


	60. Handkerchief

It felt weird to not be doing anything.

They'd been on the move so much lately– packing up to leave, Gill running around and yelling about Maya stealing his toothpaste, countered by her yelling back "Why the _fuck_ would I want your yucky old toothpaste" and Aiden nursing a cup of coffee with the volume of a bottle of wine and Lukas quietly and neatly packing stuff into his bag like he was playing Tetris, and Mevia throwing something at Gill when he passed by the room (it tended to be an axe more often than not) yelling that he was being too noisy, and Harper coming out looking like she hadn't slept all night due to tinkering, while Isa glided in and helped Radar with the itinerary and Jack and Nurm talked to each other exclusively in nods and half-formed signs–

In short, they'd been almost constantly on the move so much lately, it was weird to just be sitting without the October Children or one of the lords and just with a man they barely knew with a blanket wrapped around them burrito-style and sniffling and sneezing constantly.

Jesse looked over at Hadrian.

He hadn't seemed... _pleased_ about having to babysit Jesse, but he'd at least accepted it without complaining vocally about it. Though he'd seemed to _want_ to.

Though according to Mevia, he'd griped about it for a few hours until Harper had, a little surprisingly, told him to "shut the fuck up and go"... do something.

(Jesse didn't know the details; Mevia had paused there and then finished with "do something not super nice", and since there was a very large spectrum of actions that fell into that category, and Jesse was too polite to ask, they would never know.)

They sniffled, wiping at their dripping nose with their sleeve.

Colds always sucked.

It wasn't so much their throat hurt, or their eyes watering, or the fact they felt like their head was imploding.

It was just the fact that simply sitting there caused their nose to both be so stuffy that breathing through their nose literally took effort, and also drip like a leaky faucet, except of course they were dripping snot and that was considerably worse than just dripping water.

At least water was... clean, for the most part. And way less germy.

The next thing Jesse knew, they were having a yellow handkerchief thrusted at them with a good amount of force. Actually, if he'd been aiming at their face, they would probably have ended up knocked over and holding their nose in a considerable amount of pain.

"God sakes, blow your nose," Hadrian growled. "You're noisier than Romeo is and that's saying something."

Jesse quietly took the handkerchief with a tiny 'thank you' and blew their nose as quietly as possible into it.

Unfortunately, the cold meant they were stuffed up, as aforementioned, so they actually blew their nose out and ended up making the handkerchief practically drip with snot.

Yes, they were the epitome of health.

Jesse looked down at the (now very snotty) handkerchief and looked up at Hadrian with big, apologetic eyes. "I can wash this..."

"Just keep the damn thing," he muttered, after giving the snotty handkerchief a quick look.

Jesse murmured an 'okay' and blew their nose again. He was staring off into the distance; probably wanting to do something but either put off by Jesse's presence (their stomach twisted with guilt) or just too angry to do so.

Reuben whined and nuzzled Jesse, the human patting the little pig. Hadrian made a slightly disgusted sound and glared out the window, though Jesse couldn't tell if he was disgusted by Reuben (maybe he didn't like animals) or the fact that their nose had started dripping again.

Jesse peeked out. Fortrylle and the land surrounding it was beautiful, when not... uh, being raged at by a storm that could probably be compared to a hurricane.

The most impressive part was that Fortrylle was literally at the eastmost part of Cosmos– it dropped off into a chasm if you went too much farther east, with Fortrylle having a branch that went over the chasm.

It was evidently very popular to live there, since most demons were perpetually nervous about the 'branch' it was on breaking and sending them all tumbling into void and so the rich demons just took up residence there, as it was quieter from the 'riffraff' (Ivor had rolled his eyes at that, which had made Jesse giggle).

Jesse had peeked at it for a few minutes; if they stared for too long they swore they could see stars and stardust floating near the bottom and the answers to anything and everything hiding in there.

Hadrian sighed after a minute and regarded them, with the look of someone regarding a worm or a beetle or something gross. "So. You're basically a kid, huh, slugger?"

They had the faint urge to correct him, since technically they were a _teenager_ , but the look on his face did not encourage that urge to do so, so they nodded slightly and blew their nose again, secretly very grateful for the handkerchief.

It at least made them feel like they were getting the gross stuff out of their body, rather than snorting it back in and being really gross.

"Yeah..."

"Of course they left me to..." Hadrian grumbled something incoherent (or, at least, Jesse couldn't understand it), before leveling a look at Jesse.

It was not necessarily a _bad_ look, or a rude one– just the look of someone considering something, with his arms crossed and his brow creased and his mouth twisted the tiniest bit to one side thoughtfully.

Jesse blinked up at him with big green eyes.

After a minute, he crossed his arms and leaned back, tilting his head to one side as a small smile (or was it a smirk? They couldn't tell) crossed his face.

"How about a deal, sport?"

* * *

 **A/N: Uh...**

 **Well, he puts up with them, at least. xD**

 **Here are my three hints!**

 **1) It DOES have something to do with pigs, and it's not just a normal animal.**

 **2) Did anything about the description of the dead nurse strike you?**

 **3) Does anyone know what an acrostic is?**

 **If anyone gets it right, I'll write a oneshot of any topic for them.**

 **RQTC: Has anyone watched the anime Laid-Back Camp?**

 **It's really fun, surprisingly. Plus the humor is kind of on point sometimes xD**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Happygoluckymegami: Well... hellhounds are dogs, and Reuben is a pig, so no... xD / Oh, absolutely.**

 **Northern Goshawk: Oh, definitely. / Eh, no. Not a boar. It's like... a mythical creature? / It would be difficult for them to– they don't know what boundaries they might cross, plus they still don't know Jesse that well. / Ahh, thank you. xD**

 **idontwritetoomuch: Lol, glad you think so. / Yep, good for Reuben! / Oof, yeah.**

 **Syra Nyth: I'm really glad you enjoyed the chapter so much; poor adults though, having to deal with the bloody blankets and throw them out before Jesse woke up xD / I'm glad you liked that! / hnnn thank you so much; I really appreciate that.**

 **Saran: Jesse is super cute xD / Yeah, it's not really ideal for Jesse... or for Harper, since it can bother her even with perfectly normal people. / Ahh, yes. Except with Jesse it's more of a matter of being put in the corner and them fighting their way out when there's no other option; more of a matter of survival. Reuben would also rather get help than fight, but if he has to... well xD / I see a little bit of myself in a lot of characters; mostly in the way they talk but sometimes in personality. It mostly depends on my mood xD / That would be funny, but we've already met it. Plus a dragon is a lizard and not a pig xD / Don't worry about the ramblings lol.**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

Jesse was sitting on the sidelines cupping a little cup of tea while the sound people began getting into position. They looked up and waved at the camera slightly.

"The pavilion got messed up."

The camera panned to show that the roof of the 'pavilion' had a hole in it.

"Sorry. I decided to try climbing it and it turned out to not have the most stable roof," and the camera panned to show Gill sheepishly smiling at the camera.

Petra sighed. "Well, at least we got to take a longer break."

"Yep. I got to have some noodles," Maya said, slurping some ramen out of a cup.

Aiden gave a long-suffering sigh. "... I want ramen too."


	61. Deal

Jesse blinked innocently up at Hadrian.

They'd never heard someone ask for a deal so directly. Or even ask _anything_ with that kind of smile on their face. It was... somewhat unsettling.

"Um... what... what kind of deal?"

Hadrian shifted so he was facing them more. "Well, slugger, here's how I see it. I've got to deal with you and your, uh, vessel creature for as long as this little problem persists. Probably a few days, maybe a week maximum. But I don't handle kids well."

"How about teenagers?" Jesse asked meekly, and then blew out some more snot.

Hadrian made a dismissive humming sound at that, picking at a stray thread on his suit. "I don't handle people well."

"Oh," Jesse said very intelligently, and blew their nose again.

"Meanwhile, you're sick, you're not super big, and despite Mevia saying that you can defend yourself– which I'm not necessarily doubting– if you get into any really nasty situations, you're probably dead," Hadrian said flatly.

Jesse blinked at him.

Then blew their nose a third time in a row.

"Yeah, you're probably right about that..."

Hadrian sighed at the sight of his handkerchief, but continued. "So here's the deal, slugger. I'll do my best to keep you from experiencing anything particularly negative or deadly... besides seeing a dead body. Or two."

A short pause.

"Or a dozen."

 _That's not encouraging,_ Jesse thought, but kept that little thought to themselves.

"In turn, you have to agree that if I tell you to do something, you do it immediately. Doesn't matter if it sounds stupid."

"... what if you tell me to kill myself?" Jesse asked, more than a little wary of this deal.

Hadrian rolled his red eyes, though a part of him seemed... almost approving, of something. "Kiddo, I just said I'd try to keep you from experiencing anything deadly or negative. Telling you to commit suicide already screws with my end of the bargain."

Jesse frowned quietly, contemplating the deal.

Then blinked up at Hadrian. "So... if you jokingly told me to go slap myself..."

The demon gave an irritated sigh. "You're determined to be contrary, aren't you? How about this– when I give you a _direct order_ , you do it regardless of what you think of it. I tell you to run, you run. I tell you to leave me behind and get as far as you can, you do that. No arguments."

Jesse frowned. "What if I think I can help?"

"Well, in that case, if you end up being a help, I won't complain. But with you having to have a blanket so you don't get cold and constantly sniffling and sneezing, I kind of doubt there's many situations you'll be really helpful in."

... alright, he had a point there.

"... so you promise that you'll, uh, protect me, I guess? And I have to do what you say in return?"

"Yep."

Jesse bit their lip and considered it for a minute, rolling the thought over in their mind, before bobbing their small head in a nod.

"Deal."

Hadrian extended his gloved hand. "Shake?"

Jesse blinked at him.

Then looked at their hands, which were still holding the snotty handkerchief.

"... can I wash my hands first?"

* * *

Once Jesse had cleaned off the handkerchief and their hands, they gave his hand a quick shake. It wasn't a hard task, to do what he asked of them; plus it was his job to keep them alive. So he probably knew what was best in that case... right?

They'd been sitting in silence for some time when there was a little chime. Hadrian checked carelessly. "Ah. Looks like there's been a roadblock in Redstonia already."

"Redstonia... is that the one bordering, um, bordering Yurin?"

Hadrian glanced at Jesse. "You know Cosmos geography?"

"Yeah... the, uh, the October Children gave me a rundown," Jesse agreed meekly.

He gave a short 'hmm' and stood. "Yeah. Redstonia's the border city between Enchantra and Yurin."

"... I have a question..."

"Make it quick. We'll have to get going in a minute."

He had teleportation magic... maybe that was why they weren't packing. Not like they needed to, if they could just teleport into the area they needed. Jesse shook off the thought and blinked at him. "I've only seen border cities and, and, uh, the capital... aren't there other cities in the districts?"

Hadrian adjusted his glasses. "The short answer is... yes, but they're very unorganized. Since those 'cities' don't have barons or lords to watch the area, it means they have a mayor, but the problem is that mayors aren't chosen by the world, unlike lords and barons, and so there's a large room for error and corrupt officials can get hired."

"Oh... like the human system?"

"I have no idea what human politics is like, but knowing humans, it's complete shit," Hadrian said flatly, making Jesse blink. "Okay, slugger. First order: give me your hand."

"Oh, oh, um, okay," and Jesse stuck out their hand.

He grabbed it–

And then they were being thrown through what looked like a billion rainbow lights, head over heels, and Jesse squeaked and clung onto Reuben with their other arm and clinging onto Hadrian for dear life so they didn't go flying off into space and be flung through rainbows and light and nothing solid for all eternity–

The world stopped being nothing but light.

Jesse learned this fact by slamming facefirst into the grass and sliding an inch or two.

Hadrian dusted himself off with a sigh, completely unperturbed by the experience. "Well, we're in Redstonia now. Kid, are you doing okay?"

Jesse lay facedown on the grass, trying to get a grip on themselves and tell their stomach that, no, they were _not_ currently being thrown about like a pinball in a pinball machine and there was no need to empty their stomach contents to avoid something happening.

"Slugger? Sport? You dead?" Hadrian nudged Jesse with their shoe.

Jesse peeped up off the ground. "Does anyone ever get used to that?" they mumbled, in a slightly muffled voice.

"I suppose. Mevia's used to it by now, with how much I had to deal with her for about a decade," Hadrian replied, after seeming to give a moment of genuine thought to the question.

"How long did it take...?"

"Three years." This came extremely promptly.

"... oh."

Jesse plopped their face back into the grass.

Hadrian might've smiled, but they missed it due to having their face in the lawn, and he picked them up by the back of the shirt. "Come on. No time to waste being nauseated. You've got a day to recover from it at minimum before we gotta get going again."

"Oh no..."

* * *

 **A/N: Have you ever been on one of those spinny rides? The ones that just whirl around in circles? So imagine like that, except you're also rotating so that you flip so that your head's facing the ground and the feet go to the sky, and you're in an abyss so you don't actually know which way is up or down.**

 **... yeah, that's basically what Jesse just went through. xD**

 **RQTC: What's your opinion on Aiden in general? Not this world's Aiden, just normal Aiden from normal MCSM.**

 **I actually like writing him because he's an interestingly complex character. There's a lot you can do with him, since you can have him actually be remorseful... or have him thirst for more revenge, depending on the route you go on. xD xD**

 **I am potato. Reviews are potato. WE ARE ALL POTATO.**

 **(It is... late, on my end xD)**

 **Contest is still ongoing! I've gotten a lot of guesses, actually.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Northern Goshawk: Nope. Nothing to do with his name. Still an acrostic. / Not necessarily. I just said she had a hole through her stomach... and teeth can cause wounds just as well as tusks. / It's not the Erymanthian Boar, but that is a good guess! It's definitely a pretty obscure thing... though I wouldn't specifically call it _mythical_. / Well, the deal's... not 'you're my slave forever.' **

**WW: I have no idea if you got it right; since you win a oneshot of your choice if you did would you mind finding a sneaky way of sneaking it into a review so that I can see if you're correct? xD / Yeah, he's... well, he's not a complete jerk xD / Well, it's not the best deal, but it works. xD**

 **Happygoluckymegami: Well, his intentions don't... seem super bad. xD / Nope! It's not something people would know unless they're super into looking up mythology... or maybe ghost stories. / Nope. There's something about how I described her that might seem a bit out of the ordinary. / I don't think it's that definition of acrostic... but it is involving the letters of something. It's pretty sneaky. / It's a lovely anime. A must-watch if you like girls being dorks and learning how to camp.**

 **bungaMawar001: Yeah, you're not the only one in the "Don't Trust Hadrian" camp. / Well, he's not a lord... he's more of an actual servant of a lord. / ;3**

 **Syra Nyth: Yeah, Jesse's not having the best time right now. xD / It's more he just hates people in general and is doing his best to tolerate them, I think, but who knows xD / Well, Jesse gets protection, so... something decent came out of it, maybe? / Not necessarily. Something punching through someone's stomach could cause a 'hole' too. And high-up wounds don't indicate bigger; cats can jump super high. No, Reuben's not a cat. xD / Thank you! xD**

 **Toni42: Nothing too harmful, I don't think. xD / Indeed. / onoes T^T / They're not super happy, but what can you do when the person was disguised as a nurse? / Yes, poor Jesse. xD / :P nice. / Ye ye :3 / Wanna try guessing, bear? (cutie)**

 **Saran: Yeah, colds suck. xD / Yeah, Maya and Gill certainly 'hate' each other xD / Yeah snotty handkerchiefs are gross xD / Everyone is in the 'suspicious of Hadrian' club. Can't blame them, I mean look at Hybrid xD / Nope, not related to Minecraft! It's not a bad guess, though. / Ramen is wonderful xD / Yeah, I'm actually writing a dating sim based on it. It's... going xD / Here is a future chapter!**

 **Darkbeast Dend: (thumbs up)**

 **TheAmberShadow: Don't worry about it dude xD / You're valid lol. / _Oil_ you sure? You might be _cooked_ when I show what puns have been _simmering_ under my hat for a while now. _Roast_ me with these puns all you want, but I think you'll find I'll be the one to come out _steaming_ ready for this competition. / Kind of. xD / Hm. Who knows xD / He feels like a basement dude xD / That... yeah, that was fun to write. xD / Who knows? / Ew, yeah. xD / xD / Aiden has no carrots, but he definitely won't gripe about the pig. / After the separation! Though all of Himira did like Ivor; just not romantically. / Hehe / Oh, I completely forgot about that one xD / You can in Cosmos, their technology is just old xD / I didn't say it _wasn't_ sabotaged. / Hehe / Original objective was to get to the party and see who's stealing the keys. xD / Hm, I bet Lambie is... a panda (jk) / Well, Maya and Gill don't really... MIND being paired together xD / xP / The original plan for Hadrian was dumb, so here he is. xD / Indeed xD / Valid. / Yep xD / Ehh... not great therapy. xD / He could, but that would result in Mevia kicking his ass into the endless void outside of Fortrylle xD / I didn't say that was an omake. xD / Mythical. / I didn't say the acrostic was for his name... or what he is. xD Not a bad guess though! / Kind of xD / It's not the worst deal. / Why not xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and enjoy!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

Lukas glanced up at Jesse; they were clinging to the neck of the fiery horse gently as it trotted along, having slowed down slightly. "You feeling okay?

"Mmnn." Jesse bobbed their little head up and down- Lukas couldn't help but hide a grin. Were all humans this cute? No, probably not.

"Did you name the horse for now?" he asked- even if he had to summon a new one, it'd be easier if Jesse could call the horse by name to slow it down rather than just going "slow down!"

Jesse nodded sagely. "Bob."

He blinked. "Bob?"

Another little nod of the head. "Bob."

"... okay, then."


	62. Being Small is Helpful Sometimes

The problem, as an irate Nurm jabbed out in sign language that Jesse struggled to decipher from how sharply he did it, was that Ellegaard- the baroness that they needed to get ahold of, seeing as (as Isa put it) it would be rude as hell to just barge into her city and do a bunch of magic without at least letting her know what was going on- wasn't there.

Or, rather- from what they could gather from the clerk talking to them, who was named Calvin- she _was_ in the city, she was also just up in a thing called the Dome of Concentration.

And she wasn't coming out.

For who knew how long.

And there was no way to send messages to her.

The only way to get in _was_ to go through the Dome of Concentration, which Calvin apparently initially protested to until Isa flatly told him she was one of the three lords of Hizelk and that if he didn't let them through right that instant she'd make Ellegaard have to get a new assistant. So, problem solved, right?

Well, if it had been solved, Jesse and Hadrian wouldn't have been standing in front of the frustrated group in front of them.

"The Dome's interior defense wall is currently up, and while there are openings, uh, most of us can't exactly squeeze into spaces that small. Some girl called Olivia's also guarding the entrance, so even if we get there, she might not let us through." Lukas groaned and fidgeted with the edge of his blindfold, gesturing at the first block they'd come to.

The holes weren't too bad; if they'd been a shallow tunnel through everyone could've probably popped down and come out fine.

Unfortunately, they were more like little tunnels, and once you got your elbows in it was a super tight squeeze, with the only way to proceed being to backtrack.

Lukas had tried using a bit of magic to open it up some, but it was so tight that they would've had to basically slick the inside with oil for anyone to proceed.

Hadrian frowned, glancing at it. "You're sure there's no way to send anything to her?"

"We can send _something_ , but there's no guarantee she'll understand who it's from. Or even if won't get lost in transit," Aiden muttered, scowling at the wall as if it was entirely the inanimate objects' fault.

Jesse went and inspected one of the holes.

"... can I try going through?"

Hadrian glanced at Jesse. "Go ahead, slugger."

Jesse wormed in. The hole was a snug fit, but they could still army crawl through if they wanted to, so they wiggled and started making their way in.

"... oh, the kid actually fits."

A brief pause.

"Well, that was a simple solution."

Aiden bent down and peered through a hole. "Jesse? What's on the other side?"

Jesse poked their head into the hole he was looking into, wiping their face slightly. "Um... it's a lot of clear glass pipes with stuff floating through it..." Jesse glanced back, watching the stuff float for a moment.

... it was vaguely mesmerizing.

"... there's also a lot of stairs," they reported, after shaking themselves out of their state and realizing they'd just drifted off without actually finishing what they were saying.

Aiden made a humming sound. "Huh, okay... well, since the rest of us aren't coming through, mind going ahead and seeing if Olivia'll open up the gate?"

"I wish Petra were here; she's on friendly terms with her," Lukas murmured.

"Well, she isn't, so we'll make do," Aiden shot back.

Jesse looked up at the stairs.

Back at the hole.

Back up at the stairs.

"It might take a while..."

"Kiddo? Go do what they said." Despite the way Hadrian sounded a little dismissive- almost annoyed- Jesse could tell that was a direct order.

... well, that meant they had to do it, they supposed, so time to go climb a billion stairs.

"... okay... will you guys be okay waiting here?"

"No. This is the ultimate challenge. Two members of the October Children and one of the lords of Hizelk have met their match- a giant door," Aiden deadpanned back.

Jesse giggled at that, then blew their nose. "Okay, I'll try to hurry..."

The human pulled away and padded to the bottom of the stairs, looking up and up and up at the spiraling staircase leading to the top.

"... this _really_ might take a while..."

* * *

The top of the staircase neared the top of the dome, light seeping through slightly from the cracks of the metal plates covering the dome. Jesse liked meandering so far; something they might've called this place- with gleams of red dust that glowed in the dimness (redstone, right?) and giant cogs and gears and steam blowing everywhere- was steampunk.

They'd always thought steampunk was neat...

"State your business."

Jesse jumped and nearly fell down the stairs, turning to look. There were a set of mechanical doors- not super big and grand, but practical- and standing in front of it, leaning on the door, was a dark-skinned demon girl wearing a black lab coat over a red tunic over a black polo. Her leggings almost matched her boots exactly, the black, worn leather melding to cling to her legs, except for the rim of red along the top that differentiated between the two.

The girl's eyes gleamed red as she regarded Jesse- tiny, harmless, nose tipped pink from blowing their nose, a blanket wrapped around their shoulders, and looking like they were anything except their full seventeen years. Her hair was tied back in pigtails, which would've looked childish on anyone else but looked almost practical on her.

The dark-skinned demon crossed her arms and scowled at Jesse, red eyes practically glowing in the dim dome around them. "Well? What do you want?"

Jesse blinked at her.

Then blew their nose.

"Um... it's something about a negative energy issue, or something... I'm not very good at explaining it," Jesse mumbled, trying not to stammer, stumble over their words, or somehow mis-explain it so badly that they'd get thrown out.

Olivia- this was Olivia, right?- frowned and crossed her arms, pursing her lips. "Oh... so they sent a midget with a cold to fix it?"

"No, they- what?" Jesse, thrown for a loop, blinked at her.

The girl's face softened slightly at the blink, and she sighed. "You know what? Even if you end up not being a huge help, it's better than nothing."

Jesse wouldn't be surprised if they were useless. They were a lot of the time.

"... Alright. I'll take you to Ellegaard for a bit. She's the only one who can open the door... although, at the moment, even _that's_ kind of a rough estimate," Olivia muttered, scratching her cheek.

"What do you mean? She can open that wall, right?"

Olivia made a little sound that Jesse had learned from experience meant " _well..._ " and gestured for them to come in. "Here, it's just easier to show you..."

Jesse trotted in... and balked.

There was a huge web of what looked like sticky black strings, glowing with malevolent energy, connected to everything, like a spiderweb. Some on the walls, some on a table full of scribbled-on blueprints, some stretching to the levers...

All connected to a brown-haired woman that was hunched over some ruined blueprints on the floor and scattered mechanical bits.

Olivia's face softened further, into a worried kind of look- the look of someone who cared about someone else. "Hey, Ellegaard... uh, this is..."

She paused.

"Jesse," Jesse contributed meekly.

"This is Jesse," Olivia finished. "They're here to help out."

There was a full minute of silence.

Then Ellegaard lifted her head.

Her eyes, instead of being red, as Jesse had been slowly becoming accustomed to, were a sickly purple, the veins in her eyes black, as if struggling to completely overtake this woman.

* * *

 **A/N: Hiya Ellegaard xD**

 **Welp, here's a few familiar faces! Not... so familiar, in Ellegaard's case, but it's better than nothing. xD**

 **RQTC: How often are you cold?**

 **Every night if I'm not wearing socks or under some blankets, I have no circulation to my hands and feet. So pretty cold, but I'm not cold myself. xD**

 **The potato cult is taking over.**

 **Currently I have a backup list for people who've gotten the answer right- if the first person doesn't reply by Saturday, I'm defaulting to the second person who got it right.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **TheAmberShadow: Haha, good take. / Yes. You are one with the potato. /** **I'm _appled_ that you think that. _Orange_ you glad I'm _pear_ ing with these puns? I _kiwi_ to see what you come up with next. Be a _peach_ and let me beat you? xP / Haha, okay. / Well, if you recall, in the chapter prior to the one that I took a while to post... there was something there as well. Plus, if you look closely, I _did_ hint that it wasn't necessarily an omake. xD / Interesting. x3 / Haha, yeah. / Yeah, but since he did it so often he acclimated much quicker. Plus it was more of a part of him than being dragged along for the ride.**

 **Syra Nyth: I never said it was a _good_ deal. / Yeah, so do I xD / It's always nice! I like characters you can do a lot with. / Hehe. / Np :P**

 **Saran: Yeah, Jesse's just being sure they didn't sign over their soul or something xD / Yep, Ellegaard xD / Nothing, Hadrian just hates people in general xD / Huh, a little bit! / Jesse's great fjdka; / I make other games too. I released the demo for one a few days ago. / Much time. xD / Yeah, Aiden's neat. Lots of writing potential.**

 **bungaMawar001: He's extremely prickly. I think the thing here, is... there's not really much he CAN get from Jesse without someone knocking his head off xD xD / It is; truthfully I scrapped the original so this seemed like a less deadly way to implement it. / No, u potato**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

 _ **Inspired by a thing we were joking about on a Discord server. Silver, if you're reading this... I apologize deeply but I had to.**_

Filming stuff like Endermen or magic was interesting.

For example, it was either fake or nonexistent, and people had to react to thin air or to puppets, knowing they were puppets, and not humans.

For another thing, the sound was not included. You didn't exactly have Enderman sound effects that wouldn't end up sounding tinny onscreen. So you had to react like there WAS a sound.

Ivor hoisted Jesse over his shoulder, Jesse's head snapping up.

There was an Enderman ( _puppet_ ) standing two feet from the demon lord. Grotesque black skin, long limbs, a torso that was ridiculously shaped in comparison...

Jesse's eyes met with the black light.

Immediately, the thing's jaw dropped open, unhinging, barely connected to the skull as black, burnt teeth are revealed and purple saliva oozes to the floor-

" _SENPAI!_ "

Jesse proceeded to fall off of Ivor's shoulder laughing hysterically while Maya hastily tried to muffle her giggles. Ivor himself was struggling to keep a straight face as the puppeteer closed the Enderman puppet's mouth, grinning.

"Cut!"

Ivor bent over to laugh.


	63. Strings of Hate

Ellegaard, apparently, stared at Jesse wordlessly.

Jesse stared back.

Negative energy... they'd seen it like smoke, before, dark trails of flame against stormy clouds, and they supposed in the form of Endermen, but nothing like spiderwebs of darkness devouring the person involved.

And nothing that seemed to just totally consume the person at the center.

After a moment, Ellegaard turned her attention back to her blueprints on the floor, scratching words out silently onto them in ink that smeared and blotted and made her handwriting look like spidery runes and symbols, rather than English.

Actually, Jesse was in Cosmos. Who knew what demons wrote like; for all they knew they weren't even speaking English right now and there was some weird magic at foot to help Jesse understand everything and it was negated here, or something.

Never mind that observation, then.

Jesse edged closer for a look. The negative energy seemed to be whispering, every spiderweb of dark ooze and string vibrating insanely and creating a low, horrible humming at the very back of Jesse's mind.

They shoved it further down. Now was not the time to be worried about that.

"So, um... what are you making?" they asked Ellegaard, after a few more horribly awkward moments had passed and stretched, to the point where Olivia had given an awkward, quiet clearing of the throat.

"Block."

If Jesse had been in perfect health and not sniffling and sneezing and trying not to blow their entire nose off onto the floor, they might just have gotten up and bolted right out of there, right then and there, at that one word, all the way back to the others, never mind if they fell the whole way down the stairs.

Ellegaard's voice was terse and stern ( _like a teacher who was pissed off at her students_ ) as she muttered that at Jesse, but that wasn't why Jesse wanted to bolt.

No, that had to do with the strange echoing cacophony of her voice, the dark strings chaining her to every available surface, all of them vibrating at different frequencies and echoes and practically screeching in chorus with her quiet, terse voice until it was overwhelming and unstoppable screaming with hate and despair and loathing and nothing but darkness and-

Jesse proceeded to shove down their fear and look at Olivia.

She blinked back at them.

"Um... has she been like this for a while?" they asked her, wiping their nose slightly. Start with the basics, right?

( _Something in the back of their head thought amusedly, just for a moment, that they sounded like a doctor or something._ )

Olivia crossed her arms. "She did mention a negative energy issue the day before she started acting like this, and she did sound nervous... but that _was_ a few weeks ago..."

A few _weeks_? Had the negative energy spread and then started consuming this demon baroness like she was a snack? Or had it been so abrupt that Olivia had been unable to do anything? Surely she would've tried to fight back...

... unless she was scared of it?

"She's been like this since that. I can't get within ten feet of her without her freaking," Olivia mumbled, biting her thumbnail worriedly.

Despite how guarded she'd seemed with Jesse at first, they could tell she was really worried about the woman.

There was a tiny warm feeling in their chest at that.

They wished they had someone they could worry for like that.

 _(Without them hating Jesse.)_

"I see..." Jesse glanced at the strings. Maybe they could... rip it off? Though it did seem to be absorbing through the skin...

Maybe Jesse could still rip them off anyway, if they did it really quickly?

They had a few moments where they shuffled and pondered the downsides, before inching closer in an attempt to try it, poking a hand out from the blanket that they still had wrapped around themselves for lack of a jacket that fit, kept them warm, and didn't overheat them all at once.

They hadn't taken three small, hesitant little steps forward before they were rapidly retreating and snatching their hand away.

The moment their hand had come within tripping distance, the whispers had intensified into wicked little clawed voices, excited and giggling and eager to consume Jesse and strip the life from them and hollow them to create a vessel, frothing at the bit and hissing and tittering like some kind of demented monkey to get at Jesse.

They _swore_ they'd seen the strings, stretched taut and thin and unable to move and flex and reach, begin to sway towards Jesse, like curtains in a cold breeze.

A few steps back, and the sound turned back into a malevolent humming that was all the more unsettling now.

Jesse realized they were grinding their teeth from how much they were trying to stop chills from shooting up their spine. They'd never grinded their teeth before.

Reuben whined, pawing at the ground nervously.

"Oh, _hell_ , that's bad," Jesse mumbled through half-frozen lips, "no wonder you couldn't get close enough to rip the strings off."

Simply wandering close enough to the strings caused a wicked chorus of desire and malevolence and horrible intentions and energy throbbing and seething and frothing to create a soul- a twisted, horrible thing in place of something that had been perfectly fine- to spring up, for invisible hands to push the strings close and almost touch Jesse's hands.

They had the feeling that simply touching a string would snatch their soul away and hollow their body out enough to make a vessel where the dark energy could flood in and seal their soul in eternal torment until someone destroyed the vessel again- upon which it would restart the cycle, over and over and over for eternity and a day.

Olivia glanced at Jesse at their half-audible remark. Her brow creased.

For a moment, Jesse's entire chest seized in fear- had they said something wrong somehow? Was she going to throw them down the stairs or something?- but then they realized her brow hadn't creased in anger, or displeasure.

No, it was creased in confusion.

Jesse made to clarify what they had said- their voice _had_ been quite low, and soft, so they couldn't blame her for missing it- but she cut them off before they could.

"What strings?"

* * *

 **A/N: happy early new year! i hope i can update again before then, but if i cannot, late merry crimbo and hap news year**

 **I swear, I've gotten _less_ coherent the more I write. Too exhausting, I guess.**

 **A guest on FFN won the contest! Good job, dude. However, as they requested, the second person in line will get the prize, so good job, Savannah-the-Caracal, you get the prize! xP Feel free to DM me on Discord about the oneshot.**

 **RQTC: What is the worst thing ever?**

 **Trypophobia and lotus seeds in combination. Euuuugh, the holes terrify me.**

 **Am robot. Reviews are batteries. I have enough to last a whole day.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Northern Goshawk: That will make the answer obvious (to a point). / Nope, just negative energy. / Pffft, yeah. / Haha, that's neat. I just lose circulation to a point; so my hands and feet can end up freezing.**

 **WW: Haha, yeah. / Well, it _is_ Hadrian, so I understand the wariness jfkd;a / Eventually one day we'll die and the way we reincarnate or reach the next stage of the afterlife is like a billion stairs. / Haha xD / No, you did a good job. You also won, so xD Good job! **

**Happygoluckymegami: It's not very great about sending emails, lol. / Nope, just negative energy. / I can never hate bullies; I just get annoyed with them ffjkd;a / That's fair haha.**

 **Syra Nyth: Pfft, yeah, poor Jesse xD / You _are_ right on that! / I will say that it's not unrelated. / I'm glad!**

 **Darkbeast Dend: Oof, yeah xD**

 **Toni42: It's not that he _wanted_ to go, but he is contractually obligated to do what Ivor said. Ivor told him to go to where a problem was announced (with Jesse, to avoid them being hurt on their own in the infirmary) or his help was asked for by the others. / oof / Noooo, you're the cutest. / PFFFT / Hehe xD**

 **TheAmberShadow: I'm not _drawing_ a blank yet. The _pen_ ultimate series of puns is yet to come, so _pencil_ in the date (which I don't have, which is _sketch_ y on my part, so sorry about that) and don't throw _shade_ at me. / To quote: "**Ivor considered this, biting his lip for a moment as he considered the options before nodding. "I think Jesse can go with one of my assistants and provide assistance where necessary. He's not a contract," he remarked quickly... **" Ivor mentioned this in Chapter 57; Hadrian HAS to bring Jesse. Last two times Jesse got left on their own things went south pretty quick. / Hehe, had to stick him in. / She did the first time she met Ellegaard, but she's been with her for a while now. / Not Withersickness; just negative energy haha. / Pffft**

 **bungaMawar001: Not at the moment jfkd;a / That's valid haha. / No, he's not a unicorn. I don't think there's such a thing as a pig unicorn xD**

 **Saran: Haha, glad you liked that**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

"Today's omake is brought to you by Jesse," Jesse read off the notecard, then looked up. "Well, since I can't write, a fun fact about this: Hadrian's plotline was originally more connected to the original storyline of MCSM, since he ran some games that Jesse- that's me- got caught up in and had to beat. But since there's-"

Much static fills the air here as Jesse goes on at length and intense detail about these intense spoilers for a few future chapters. Boy, anyone who can't hear them now is really missing out.

"- the author eventually decided that it was kind of repetitive and chucked the idea out, since it also ruined the whole idea of the large time limit for the party and all that. Oh, also, you should join the Discord if you can, because the author's going to do a reading of October Children on her server or on the Minecraft: Story Mode Unofficial Discord server sometime next weekend. Also, the author puts some spoilers or possible future snippets on there, and there's other stuff too."

Jesse paused. "Yes, I know, I'm offering the link. It's here with some spaces: discord . gg / U9jAuAa ."

Jesse paused again, thinking. "Also, how would you guys like to do a general MCSM trivia Kahoot? Ariza's thinking about doing one sometime in the future."


	64. Three

Jesse blinked at Olivia.

Back at Ellegaard.

Then back at Olivia.

"... you... you can't see it?"

Olivia frowned, glancing from Ellegaard to Jesse. "I can sense she's kinda got some negative energy aura going on, and I don't exactly wanna get close to her, but... there's no _strings_ anywhere."

Jesse looked between Ellegaard- mired in a web of angrily hissing and screeching and humming whispers and dark strings that oozed such malevolent energy that even approaching it honestly made Jesse uncomfortable- and at Olivia, who seemed confused.

"... oh."

There was a long pause.

... they could use light magic to try to free her.

They'd used it twice before; once it was kind of lumped in with a healing spell so not quite just _light_ magic, but it would work.

"... I'm going to try using light magic," Jesse mumbled to Olivia, wiping their nose again, before lifting their hand and beginning to recite the little spell that Romeo had taught them through howling wind and screaming storm around them.

Olivia blinked, as if about to cut them off, but then a little glow emitted from Jesse's hands and flitted to the web, beginning to seep into the dark ooze and cut through it, peering through the dripping, oozing strings-

And immediately crushed out, as if someone had thrown burning embers onto a pile of leaves and promptly stomped them out with no mercy.

The demon stared, completely boggled as Jesse kept repeatedly shooting the spell at the webs with limited success.

Okay, fine, _no_ success.

"Light magic?" Olivia blinked at Jesse, who was still using the spell that Romeo had taught them, but every little blast was swallowed by the sticky, oozing strings, much like the time Aiden had been hurt and lying there and Lukas and Maya had been unable to do anything except watch. "Since when did humans know how to use light magic?"

"Since I had to use it to help Lukas..."

Olivia watched Jesse repetitively use the spell before she shook herself out of a slightly stunned stupor and grabbed their wrist before they could fire off another one. "No, listen- you're wasting energy using a bunch of little spells. It's like... like throwing a bunch of little stones into a lake to make a big splash rather than just shoving a boulder in."

Olivia had no idea if her analogy would work, since sometimes kids came in and they were glued to their smartphones, but Jesse's eyes lit up in understanding.

"Oh, I see..." Jesse wiped their face quietly. "... then a light spell would work, but it would have to be really powerful."

Olivia nodded, frowning over at Ellegaard. "Go big or go home, right? I'd grab the spellbook, but since the door's locked..."

"Oh- I have one!" Jesse reached into their little backpack and pulled out the tome, starting to flip it open.

Olivia blinked.

"I thought humans didn't use magic in your world," she said, rather bluntly.

"We don't, Romeo gave me the book..."

Jesse flipped through about seventeen more pages before they stopped and poked the page with their finger, checking the spell description.

There.

One of the most powerful light purification spells in the book-

And it required redstone as a component for the spell to work.

Jesse stared blankly. They absolutely knew what redstone was; Harper used it everywhere, but how were they supposed to get ahold of it? Go around to every machine in the building grabbing handfuls of it? They'd undoubtedly break something.

"Something wrong?" Olivia's brow had creased as she watched Jesse stare blankly down at the page. "You just... kinda froze up."

"..." Jesse frowned, considering the question and turning it over in their mind, before hesitantly peeking up at her. "I found a spell... but it needs redstone as a component."

"How much?" Olivia asked, reaching into her pocket. "If it's just a few pieces, I can spa-"

"Enough to sprinkle on the floor around me in a circle," Jesse said meekly.

Olivia paused. In any other situation, it would've looked comical, with her half-leaning to her left to get deep into her right pocket, but it wasn't, and neither of them were laughing.

"... ah."

A short pause.

"I do _not_ have enough for that."

She pulled out what she had- which looked like a few fistfuls- and began to count, her lips forming the shapes of the numbers as she silently ran through them- then looked up to meet Jesse's eyes. "I've got six. Assuming you want a solid line and not something with possible gaps, we need three more."

She handed over the redstone, getting glittery dust on the blanket that would undoubtedly remain until kingdom come, and looked around, giving the room a cursory look before muttering six swears in a row. "Fuck. Yeah, sorry, I don't think I've got any..."

Jesse looked at Ellegaard, who was still working on a blueprint despite being weighed down with strings that Olivia couldn't see. They weren't close enough to hear the whispers anymore, but they could still feel what felt like slimy fingers running down their spine and sending chills up their back.

"... would... would she have any?"

The dark-skinned demon looked over at Ellegaard, tilting her head to the side. "... give me a minute."

Jesse obediently nodded, but when Olivia started to approach they grabbed her shirt. "Wait, you can't see the strings..."

"I'm not gonna reach into her pocket or anything. I'm going to see if I can talk to her," Olivia said, with a confidence that surprised Jesse. She looked so serious all of a sudden.

(Truthfully, Olivia was sweating bullets, but Jesse didn't exactly need to know that.)

After a moment longer, Jesse slowly removed their fingers from the hem of her shirt, taking a hesitant little step back and letting Reuben snuffle against them.

Olivia knelt next to Ellegaard, her throat bobbing as she swallowed what was undoubtedly a nervous lump. "Ellegaard?"

The woman's eyes flickered up to her briefly. Otherwise, there was no reply.

Olivia's voice was firm- not harsh, or strict, but despite her voice being soft, there was a definite solidity to it that made Jesse feel like they could reach out and hold onto it like a tangible object. "I need to use some redstone. You're... well, you haven't been yourself, so I think... I think Jesse could help with that."

Ellegaard stared emotionlessly.

"I know, you want me to bring my own. I did bring my own, but I didn't think I was about to make a circle with it like I was repelling a demon or something."

It was likely that Jesse was hopefully imagining things, but they swore they saw Ellegaard's lips curl up the tiniest amount at that.

"... actually, never understood why humans thought that works. It works for spirits but not demons. Anyway." Olivia focused dark red eyes onto Ellegaard's face. "Can I have just three pieces? I promise I'll bring my own next time."

Ellegaard's expression almost darkened. To Jesse's horror, the strings began to thicken, coalescing and oozing and the whispers intensifying.

Olivia jerked back for a moment, but then her shoulders slumped.

"Please?" Olivia's voice had dropped to a whisper.

The girl leant forward slightly, almost pressing their forehead to Ellegaard's but hardly daring to touch her, stopping a whisper away from actually making contact. Her heart was flitting about in her chest like a butterfly. "I miss you."

It was difficult to say this, knowing how dumb it sounded- she'd been right _there_ the whole time, how could Olivia have missed her?

But she had.

She'd missed snark and sarcasm and getting corrected every two minutes and the occasional hug or nudge to the ribs. She'd missed papers piled up on the stairs and getting breakfast in the morning and watching Ellegaard walking through the doors with a mess of hair. She'd missed having Ellegaard attack her hair with a comb.

She'd missed her. Even though she'd been right there the whole time.

She got shoved away, something dropping into her lap, and she reeled backwards before landing hard on her butt.

Ellegaard was glowering down at her papers, which made Olivia's heart sink; but Jesse was smiling.

"What're you smiling 'bout?" Olivia muttered, scowling at Jesse.

"You got through a little," Jesse said softly, pointing at her lap. Olivia's eyes trailed down to see what Jesse was pointing at.

There, in her lap, resting on top of her legs and glittering in the dim light, were three pieces of redstone.

* * *

 **A/N: yaaaay xD**

 **I'm back at school and working on a game jam again, so I probably won't be able to update for a week or so.**

 **Wow can't believe the last time I edited was last decade. xD**

 **RQTC: How often do you like to go out?**

 **When I'm at school, sometimes I just wanna stay inside- mostly when I have work to get done.**

 **Lately, I've been struggling to continue writing, and I've found it's mostly due to the number of reviews I have to reply to. I really am super grateful for everyone's support, and I love talking to you guys, but unfortunately I don't have time to respond to every single remark comment, and the idea of having to do it is starting to make me procrastinate on publishing new chapters. So I'm limiting my review replies to questions, remarks that I just have to reply to, or new people who I've never seen before; and maybe a couple remarks. I hope you guys understand; but thank you so much for your support! I really, really appreciate it.**

 **Responses to reviews (new):**

 **Toni42: Django did _not_ tell you that xD**

 **Northern Goshawk: A little bit. I was just kinda teasing haha.**

 **TheAmberShadow: That's okay, I _ginger_ ly expected that there was a misunderstanding there. / I _wasabi_ under the impression that I didn't talk about the Witherstorm? It was all negative energy. / I'm _sushi_ amused by the whole matter.**

 **Saran: People usually can feel the malevolence it gives off even if they're not physically seeing the strings, thus they avoid the strings. Which drives the strings crazy cause they'd love the attention xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

"Another one of these weird 'omake' things..." Aiden sighed and cleared his throat. "Well, okay. Most of the time the author doesn't have anything new to share- no old snippets or taken-out-parts- so they'll just be using this as the omake."

He took a deep breath, and then began.

"A fun fact about development is that Lukas _can_ see through the blindfold, but that's not revealed until later. Like, really later on. I mean, you infer that he sees, but you don't know the reason is-" Another censoring by static. "- until pretty late on. So... whatever, I guess."

Aiden paused. "Oh, yeah. Another fun fact is that the character of Sirena was named off of a character that the author once made for a comic. It was never released, publicly or anything, but it was a name that stuck with them, so here we are. Also, Jesse has no canon appearance, so any art that the author makes can and will vary wildly for them."

Another pause.

"Another fun writing fact was that Petra originally had the eyepatch too. However, we eventually stuck her with the tattoo on her arm to differentiate her from the others and for... other reasons that we're not getting into since I'll just get censored again."

He paused.

"That's really it for now. Though, if the author sold MCSM fan-merch, how would people react to that?"


	65. Burn

Olivia watched as Jesse set up the spell.

She'd never seen a human that was able to perform magic.

Or... many humans at all.

Ellegaard wasn't exactly a _hermit_ , but the program to become her protege was intense training- some people, like Olivia, trained for their whole lives in a building before being chosen.

And even after being chosen, they could last for the rest of their life _in a building_ and not outside, seeing sun and bloodred sky on a daily basis.

Sometimes the lucky(?) person... well, died during the more intense phases of training, and sometimes they died on the job.

Olivia apparently had lasted the longest so far at two years, four months, nine days, and seven hours.

Yes, she kept a running tab. She was trying to get to three years straight.

Set a damn good record before she went out, _if_ it ever happened.

The point was, she rarely ever saw humans before they were contracted, and rarely ever saw humans that apparently just... wandered around Cosmos.

(The pig felt oddly tasty, to be fair, but Jesse themselves was definitely more of a delicacy for demons.)

And here was a human, trying to perform an intensely difficult spell, if the fact that Jesse had re-gathered up some of the redstone pieces (usually, it was pure dust, but to conduct it better Ellegaard and most of the people in Yurin carried around redstone pieces that were in the shape of a pyramid- you could crumble it up if needed, but it was easier than just toting around pocketfuls of dust) and re-done the shape about fifteen times was any indication.

Then again, Jesse was probably _not_ that fluent with magic.

That did not assure Jesse too much.

At one point, Jesse asked Olivia if it was okay that they weren't crumbling it up into dust, and Olivia checked the spell before shrugging. "Unless it says it has to be pure dust, you're probably okay..."

Jesse mucked around for a bit before pausing, glancing from the book to the little setup around them.

"Oh! I got the setup right..."

Olivia wished they didn't sound or look so surprised about that.

Jesse lifted their arms and started chanting- well, it was easy to say that it was a magic incantation or a chant. Truthfully, it was more of a memorized spiel of words in a language lost to time and magic; but it didn't have to be incredibly rhythmic or anything.

She watched the concentric gold (iridescent, really) circles snap into place around Jesse, locking every word into place.

Ivor was impressive at magic- Olivia knew that- but she also noted that his magic wasn't incredibly flowery or visually appealing; it just produced results faster than any other demon alive.

 _Although_ , she noted to herself as she watched the tower of rings rising into the air, far beyond Jesse's height (meaning this spell was particularly a doozy), _this is definitely the most potent chanted magic I've seen._

Lukas's was a pretty shade of gold, which already meant it was pretty powerful, and Olivia had seen the occasional chanted rings with Ivor's going gold with an iridescent sheen... but even though the iridescent quality of these rings weren't quite as potent as Ivor's, it was definitely stronger than most magic users she'd seen.

She glanced at Ellegaard to check- and then started back.

There were dark strings that were currently being burned away by the light that Olivia could only see for a few feet- but with the light blazing through it like moths in flame, Olivia could see almost a dark, sticky _web_ clouding around Ellegaard, burning away with every strand falling loose and swinging momentarily before it was devoured by the flame.

No wonder she'd been acting odd. She was mired in negative energy.

It wasn't easy for people like Olivia to see magic, or negative energy before it had taken something over. For Lukas, it was easier, but for Olivia, who had used magic exactly once, it just didn't come easily- to the point where sometimes she was totally oblivious to it.

You apparently had to have a good amount of magic sensitivity to be able to see it, though you could sense it enough that you wanted to stay away- which Olivia had just chalked up to some negative energy being in the room or in Ellegaard's system somehow.

Which meant that for Jesse to be seeing it, their magic sensitivity had to be quite high- especially since humans were particularly magic-insensitive.

Jesse uttered the last word, and the negative energy sizzled as the very last bits of it curled up in the half-blinding light and died, the rings shrinking down on themselves and leaving Jesse wrapped up in their blanket, still sick and swaying slightly as the spell undoubtedly left them half-coherent.

Magic could drain people, even tiny spells, and for a spell the level Jesse had just somehow pulled out of their butt, they had to be half-dead already.

Ellegaard shook her head, as if shaking something off, and stared up at Jesse for a moment, utterly confused.

Jesse smiled almost drunkenly at Ellegaard, except of course, they weren't drunk, so it just meant they were swaying and a little woozy.

Then they pitched forward.

Olivia had to lunge across the floor to catch Jesse, their slightly feverish little body ( _why were they so thin? How old were they? She had so many questions_ ) almost toppling out of the blanket that was wrapped around them.

Ellegaard blinked hard, as if trying to remember what she was doing, then she frowned and tilted her head, eyes scanning the room slowly, trailing from Jesse's unconscious little form, to the fading effects of light magic, to the disheveled state of the room, and then back to Olivia's stunned face.

"... alright, what the fuck happened?" she asked this flatly.

* * *

 **A/N: ellegaard returns...**

 **fun fact usually when i'm chatting with people i just don't use proper capitalization and it just looks**

 **like this.**

 **yay.**

 **I'm making MCSM merch. Like acrylic charms and stuff. Just for the heck of it.**

 **also, omakes will no longer be every chapter. I only have so much content I can give/find.**

 **rqtc: don't really have one right now.**

 **responses to reviews:**

 **Northern Goshawk: Here is the next chapter!**

 **Happygoluckymegami: Good to know.**

 **TheAmberShadow: Explained the redstone pieces.**

 **Saran: Anime girl Jesse. xD**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. x.x**


	66. No Time to Waste

Lukas was quietly brushing Jesse's hair while Aiden watched silently. They were barely awake from passing out, but conscious enough to not fall face-first to the floor.

After Olivia had briefly explained the situation, Ellegaard had opened up the gates to let the others in, explaining what had happened with a faintly apologetic note as she shoved papers sloppily into some drawers that she would undoubtedly never open again.

This had led to someone (Aiden or Olivia, but Jesse had been too hazy to pay attention) making a small theory about it, which now led to them sitting around the room in a rough kind of circle while Lukas fussed over Jesse and the others continued theorizing.

Ellegaard frowned, drumming her fingers quietly on the table. She'd organized a little bit, but not enough for it to look actually neat. "I did notice it starting to take over... but I thought since I was a baron, I'd be able to repel it before long."

"That _is_ the case with most negative energy... which makes you wonder why this one was an exception," Isa murmured.

Nurm jabbed away something sign language.

Jesse rubbed a very sleepy eye, looking like they might pass out any second after and sniffling. "Um... Nurm sai' tha' since I had to use a really strong spell... 's likely it was either jus' really strong... or had some magic thing tainting it."

Ellegaard's brow creased. "To have magic be able to magnify the power of negative energy, without the user itself getting corrupted... it can't just be a regular demon. That kind of magic isn't the type the average demon can learn..."

"But then it's not any of the lords, either," Isa chimed in, her lip between her teeth as she considered this. "This kind of magic is... it's old. Not quite as old as Ivor's. Pretty sure it's forbidden... which means it has to be someone who was _taught_ this sort of magic as a kid."

"Not very helpful. There's a lot of demons out there who've been taught this magic as a kid since it was 'recently' forbidden," Hadrian grumbled, which got him a few looks.

"He's right," Ellegaard murmured. " _I_ learned about this magic as a child. That narrows it down to about half the demons in Cosmos... it was some extremely powerful magic, though."

Aiden grunted. "So maybe someone with excellent magic casting skills?"

The conversation was cut off by Olivia abruptly vaulting to her feet, shooting across the room, and slamming the door open with so much force that Jesse jumped and fell onto the floor, to Lukas's dismay.

" _Hey_ -!" Olivia stopped, frowning out into the empty space beyond.

"What is it?" Hadrian sounded annoyed by the interruption. "You heard something?"

Olivia frowned out at the empty hallway beyond, then turned back around and shut the door more securely. "... no. I just... I thought I saw something green beyond here. So I figured it was a demon that dyed their hair, or a doll... but there's nothing there."

* * *

Ellegaard eventually offered them some rooms to stay for the night, apologizing for the trouble (to which Hadrian replied bluntly that it was kind of their jobs to fix trouble). Lukas offered to stay in the same room with Jesse, but Hadrian vetoed the idea.

 _Partially because he could see Jesse twisting their fingers in that awkward way that meant they were trying to figure out how to say no without being offensive._

It felt like only a few minutes of sleep had passed, Jesse still barely coherent from the level of magic they'd had to do, before Hadrian poked Jesse none too gently, which made them squirm slightly in their sleep and crack open an eye. "Nn... 'adrian...?" they mumbled, sleepily.

The door was open behind him, enough that any passerby could've seen if he was doing something suspicious- which honestly was a comfort.

"Get dressed, slugger. We've got to head to Boom Town in a few hours once I can teleport us both." He spoke curtly, almost sharply. "Looks like the others there are having trouble again. Already told Isa so we can leave."

"I hope nothing dangerous happens..."

Hadrian sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and shoving his glasses up onto his forehead.

After a moment, his voice became the tiniest bit softer, as if he'd just recalled they'd done the level of magic that Ivor would've still had to mumble a few words for without really getting enough rest. "Look, kid, I'm sure it won't be that dangerous. Yes, Boom Town's pretty much the most dangerous place in Cosmos-"

Jesse wondered if that was supposed to be comforting.

"- but it's not like Magnus wants us all to participate in the Death Bowl."

For some reason, all Jesse could think about at that name was the Super Bowl and having two teams just run around with a deadly football. Which made them want to smile faintly.

"... the... Death... Bowl?"

* * *

"What's the Death Bowl?"

Jesse might've asked the others this, having not gotten a straight answer earlier from Hadrian, but they were currently hunched over and trying not to vomit all down their front.

Hadrian stared at the others, looking almost incensed while Jesse was still recovering from the abrupt, urgent need to vomit that teleporting had brought upon them. Perhaps it was a good thing they were incapacitated, actually, they didn't want that look directed at them.

 _(Didn't want to have done something_ wrong.)

"He _what?_ "

Mevia was glaring at Hadrian, while Gill and Maya were trying to shrink away from the aura of pure hatred the two of them were giving off. "Look, it's _Magnus_ we're talking about-"

"And he won't let us work on the negative energy problem _unless we participate in the Death Bowl?_ What kind of stupid logic is that?" Hadrian snarled.

"Magnus's, that's whose stupid fucking logic it is," Mevia snapped back. "You know he's a paranoid son-of-a-bitch, he needs to know that you can handle it before he just lets you waltz on into there."

Truthfully, in a weird, twisted way, that _did_ make sense to Jesse, but they decided not to chime in with this opinion.

"It doesn't have to be all of us," Radar piped up meekly. "It... can... just... be... one participant." He'd shrunk back upon both Mevia and Hadrian turning looks of pure fury upon him.

"... just a suggestion."

* * *

 **A/N: Poor Radar; he just wanted to make a suggestion.**

 **Poor Jesse needs to sleep for the next two days... they're not getting it. At all. Sorry. xD**

 **The reason they're moving so quick is because negative energy needs to be fixed urgently; it can't just sit and wait for formalities or it can get _that much_ worse.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Syra Nyth: True haha.**

 **Northern Goshawk: that's Ellegaard... practical to a fault... / No, I'm actually doing a lot of schoolwork... also writing bloopers can take some time extra that tends to make me procrastinate on chapters.**

 **bungaMawar001: fdjka;fa**

 **Happygoluckymegami: they're more worried about the negative energy issues, tbh.**

 **TheAmberShadow: hehe. it's an eggcellent chapter, is it not? Omelet you theorize about what's going on.**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	67. In Which People Keep Arguing

"But he _knows_ us," Gill protested. "Why's he being paranoid about letting us help? We hang out with Axel on more than one occasion and we literally just passed through-"

Maya shook her head. "No, I can... I can see why he's being paranoid."

"Oh? Well, please, enlighten us," Hadrian snapped.

His voice dripped with sarcasm, but Maya ignored it in favor of her explanation. "Okay. So... I'm not _wrong_ in thinking we all aren't exactly the best of the best with magic. I've got more of an affinity than this bastard here-"

Gill kicked her.

She, in return, elbowed him in the ribs so hard he fell over while squeaking swears under his breath and turned back to the conversation.

"- but none of us can really handle huge quantities, or use a large amount. Not without draining ourselves pretty bad."

Hadrian grunted. His temper spike had lowered into his usual grouchy self. "That's true... I'm only proficient in transport magic," he muttered after a moment.

Mevia nodded, crossing her arms. "Alright... you think that's something to do with it?"

"If we can't handle a fight against him- where he combines magic, explosives, and natural agility- he's probably wondering what the hell we're going to do against negative energy," Maya mumbled thoughtfully.

Gill got up from the floor, wincing and rubbing his ribs. "We can't just _all_ go up against him simultaneously?" he suggested.

He paused.

"Minus Jesse, of course."

 _Jesse might've joked that they felt excluded, if they were more of an extrovert and weren't afraid of their words backlashing them._

 _As it was, they just shuffled a bit and tried not to look too hurt._

 _They were a liability, after all._

"We can try... but it does take a good amount of magic to purify negative energy-"

"Oh. Why don't we have the slugger go, then?"

Mevia stopped mid-sentence at the interruption and turned a gaze full of lava and brimstone onto Hadrian, who remained unperturbed. "Are you _fucking_ kidding?" she hissed, still looking like she'd rain the fiery depths of hell onto him. "You'd have-"

"They purified Ellegaard in Redstonia, which was where we were until one of you called us here," Hadrian interrupted again, cutting her off. "Yes, they did pass out a bit after-"

"They _what_ -"

"But they did what very few demons or half-demons have been able to do- that is to say, purify someone who was nearly completely taken over in a single try," Hadrian cut her off a third time. "Even Ivor has difficulty with some amounts of negative energy, and Jesse did it in a single go."

Maya and Gill exchanged looks at that.

Mevia's brow creased. "Have they fully recovered?"

"No, which is why I think _after_ the Death Bowl, which shouldn't be nearly as strenuous on them as it is to purify negative energy, they should take at least a day's rest before attempting to purify whatever the hell's been infected," Hadrian replied, in the tone of voice that implied he was talking to an idiot.

Mevia closed her eyes. Jesse got the overwhelming feeling that she was barely holding back from turning Hadrian into a smear on the floor.

There was a whole minute's pause before she abruptly spoke again. "Okay. Okay. Fine."

She opened her eyes and leveled a steely, forcibly even gaze at Hadrian. "And what do you suggest we do to keep them from dying _before_ that?"

"The agility test?"

Both of them glanced at Maya, frowning. "The Death Bowl's a tournament, right? You pick someone to go through it, go through a bunch of challenges and then face up against Magnus at the very end. But every 'game' is timed; Jesse would just have to avoid being hit- not necessarily winning against it."

"Well, this is an extremely large gamble we'd be taking, regardless," Mevia replied, glancing at Jesse, who was curled up in their blanket, "they're still mildly ill. And tired, besides."

"I can do it..." Jesse offered meekly. In fact, they offered so meekly that nobody heard them.

"If I can," Radar spoke up, making everyone jump and turn to look at him; they'd forgotten he was even there- "I'd like to make a suggestion- a lot of the games in the Death Bowl tend towards agility. But there's also a lot of stuff like stealth, or common sense, that _can_ be used in challenges that aren't necessarily _focused_ towards those. So if Jesse's any good at that sort of stuff, they could still end up getting where they need to go."

Maya pursed her lips. "... you mean cheat the system as much as they can," she elaborated, after a moment of consideration.

Radar gave a bit of a shrug. "Basically."

Hadrian glanced at Mevia and shrugged. "You wanted help. It's up to you to decide if you go with this plan."

She scowled. "Since when did anyone else agree about this?"

Maya and Gill winced simultaneously.

She stared at them, then groaned and let her head drop. There was a high chance that she was debating that she was going to kill them right then and there on the spot. "Fine. Fucking fine. Think it's a terrible idea, but whatever. Let's do this, I guess," she snapped briskly.

"I bet Magnus is just going to facepalm and think it's a joke," Maya deadpanned.

"Hell nah, he knows not to underestimate people. Bet you four gold he won't do that," Gill said, nudging her in the ribs a bit too sharply to be friendly.

She pursed her lips and punched him in the shoulder hard. "Fine. Deal's on."

* * *

Magnus slowly, slowly blinked at Jesse as he slowed to a stop in front of them.

Then pressed his hand to his face. Jesse had the feeling he might've bashed his brains out had he done it with any actual force.

Jesse was currently standing in the not-particularly-large lineup for the Death Bowl, Reuben's thin squeals barely audible over the excited din of the crowd from where Gill was holding him on the side of the crowd.

Most of the five other participants were decked out in masks, gear, stuff that could hold potential weapons and that made them look much more intimidating. Meanwhile, Jesse...

Well, they'd set the blankets aside, at least.

"Tiny, is this a joke? Tell me this is a practical joke, right?" he mumbled, too low to be heard over the cheers and shouts of the crowd and barely loud enough to be heard at _all_.

"No..."

"Thought not. Alright." Magnus sighed and turned to the rumbling crowd without further bothering them. "Welcome to the Death Bowl. Yada yada lot of boring shit, you can read it on your own damn time, now let's get to the _important_ stuff."

There was a roar of assent from the crowd.

Jesse mentally made note to tell Maya that she'd won the bet.

* * *

 **a/n: 3 chapters until 70 guys!**

 **I'm writing an MCSM fanbook for the heck of it. Probably won't be done in the foreseeable future, but basically imagine if Lukas had a journal post Season 1 which he wrote in using friends as characters to practice his writing, and everyone kept 'borrowing' it to add their own contributions.**

 **to clarify- if i answer reviews now, i'm answering questions.**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **TheAmberShadow: That rule is just _stuffing_... but it's _fluff_ that I enjoy, so yes.**

 **Northern Goshawk: Yep.**

 **Happygoluckymegami: Why would anyone go after Jesse? You _really_ have to look to see that they're a human, after all... what if they're after something else?**

 **That's all for now. See ya, so long, and enjoy!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	68. You Bombed It, Jesse

Jesse didn't like being sick.

First off, their nose was so stuffed that they were blowing their nose every five minutes; to the point where one member of the competition finally chucked a box of tissues at them, grumbling that even if unstuffing their nose miraculously helped Jesse win, it was at least less annoying-sounding than Jesse trying to keep their nose from dripping by snorting every once in a while.

Secondly, they felt very sleepy.

Granted, they hadn't slept enough the night before, after that display of magic, but still, being sick was undoubtedly one of the worst things for their reflexes, because they just felt like flopping face-first to the floor and falling asleep.

Clearly the best thing for their health.

And finally, it meant that they were participating in a challenge with who-knew-what challenges, against healthier and fitter opponents at the moment, with no backup plan.

Lovely.

Magnus was announcing in a voice that was much louder than expected; maybe he'd used a small spell or something. "Our six challengers will participate in a tournament of three challenges to whittle it down to the best of the best- we'll, uh, do a tiebreaker if more than one person's not eliminated."

Jesse smiled at the slightly awkward deviation from the announcing.

He returned to it a moment later. "Each of the three challenges will trend towards a certain skill! Ones that mean you can handle a... certain challenge we're experiencing."

He didn't elaborate. Jesse didn't need him to.

"So, without further ado... our first challenge is..."

Jesse braced themselves to hear one of the most intense challenges of their life. Okay, they were sick, but they could handle running in short spurts, though longer ones would probably make them far too tired and they'd probably fail. Maybe it was an endurance test? Would it be poison? No, no, demons liked poison-

"Hide and Seek!"

... well, that was tamer than expected.

"... with bombs!"

Okay, never mind.

"Challengers will find a place to hide in the field-" Magnus gestured at a building that looked like it was going to fall apart. "- and hide. However, every 5 minutes, a bomb will go off! If you hear ticking, hissing, or some other sound that does not belong, you can probably guess there's a bomb nearby you. Challengers will have to stay hidden as much as they can while also avoiding getting blown sky-high by the bombs."

Jesse hoped Mevia wasn't going to kill Hadrian for this.

"You are able to use _anything_ in the field to your advantage- but you can't bring outside tools or weapons in. Hand 'em over, champs."

The other opponents grumbled and proceeded to start pulling bombs, gunpowder pyramids that were reminiscent of the redstone pyramids back in Redstonia, maces, swords, axes, and what looked like an entire weapons arsenal out of their pockets.

Jesse blinked.

They supposed the book counted, but at the moment Reuben had a hold of that since he had to be left behind anyway.

The opponents drew back, but Magnus shot them a look. " _All_ tools or weapons, guys."

One of them grumbled and threw down- oh, good, he'd just thrown down what looked like a steampunk chainsaw.

Magnus waited for them to announce anything else, before clapping his hands together. "Aight- looks like we're ready to start. Every challenger has five minutes to find their first hiding place without worrying about any bombs going off. The Seeker- me- will come into the field once those five minutes are up, and the timer for the bombs will start going down. Any questions?"

"Any rules for participants attacking each other?"

Jesse recognized the voice as Gill's, his arm flailing around above his head until it disappeared- presumably because Maya had shoved his hand down.

"The rules on that are-"

"That there are no rules!" One audience member yelled out, to the roar of the crowd.

"- no eye poking," Magnus finished, getting a few boos. "But that's really it."

Jesse was vaguely sure they could see Mevia trying to murder Hadrian in the crowd for the suggestion of getting them to participate.

"Alright... the hiding period starts... now!"

And Jesse bolted off into the building as fast as they dared.

It was crumbling apart; one look and Jesse could tell that hiding behind any destroyed furniture was useless- most of it was splintered apart, and there were large holes in parts of the floor. It'd be far too easy to trip through and fall a few stories the higher up they went.

Ventilation?

Probably rigged with bombs.

So that left this room.

It looked like it might've been a hotel once upon a time; there were large desks and a cabinet with the doors practically hanging off themselves. Ceiling tiles were missing, rubble littered everything, and it smelled like ash and dust- not the most pleasant smell.

Jesse looked around at the destroyed furniture, taking note of what might be a decent hiding place, before checking inside the ceiling.

Several wires sparked, water dripping from leaking pipes.

"Hell no," Jesse mumbled, dropping back to the floor.

"Two minutes!"

Jesse jumped at the announcement, looking around frantically. Two minutes left to hide, and they were just standing around looking at an old hotel lobby.

Could they hide under the carpet? No, too obvious... In the cabinet? No, it was far too open... and obvious...

Jesse desperately tried one of the smooth parts of the desk. To their surprise, one of the wood panels curved inwards when they tapped it. There was an empty space behind it.

Jesse shoved it open a little bit and quickly fit the wood on back over their hiding spot, covering their mouth to try not to make too much noise.

"Time!"

The distant sounds of beeps, hisses, and ticking all sprang to life, far outside of their hiding spot.

Then Jesse heard a singular beep.

Jesse looked up.

A bomb the size of their palm was blinking red in the darkness of their hiding spot.

* * *

 **A/N: You didn't think Magnus would notice this spot, Jesse?**

 **I have MCSM stickers for sale! They're quite cheap so feel free to cop them :P**

 **Explosions, huh? This is going to be a _bomb_ of a time. I've been in a bit of a dry spell for writing, but there's probably going to be a bit of a _boom_ soon for it. _Fire_ yourselves up for some interesting shenanigans, and we'll be _gunning_ to get back on track with the real mission soon!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	69. Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Dirt

_Oh crap oh jeez oh heck oh no._

Jesse was having what was probably the quietest panicking session of all time, sitting and staring at the little blinking red dot above them. They could hear footsteps- some panicked and rushed, some slow and steady and light- undoubtedly Magnus's.

Jesse's eyes flicked around rapidly as some of the panicked footsteps came close. They reached up and pried at the bomb desperately, trying to pull it off and hopefully throw it away as far as possible.

To their surprise, it came detached with barely even a tap and landed square in their lap. They could feel every little blip as the seconds counted down.

To say that that gave them a heart attack was a gross understatement.

Jesse frantically picked up the bomb and looked around furiously. The other part of the desk had a small slat where it no longer matched up perfectly with the floor, so if they threw it from there they could probably get it as far away from them as possible.

Probably.

Jesse worked up their hiding place, bumping their shoulder frantically but lightly against the wooden board so they could nudge it open and throw the bomb away-

And came face-to-face with another griefer.

The griefer's eyes bulged in surprise. Jesse hushed him hastily and held up the blinking bomb.

Hopefully they were telepathically communicating " _If you don't rat me out right now I'll throw this away and you can have another minute to hide_ " and not " _please don't kill me with this bomb._ "

Actually, both messages were okay to telepathically communicate.

The griefer glanced from the bomb to Jesse, apparently decided that the tiny figure with a dripping nose was less threatening than the bomb literally ticking down to zero, and nodded and made little furious flailing motions at Jesse- presumably to communicate " _throw this thing away from us right now._ "

Jesse agreed wholeheartedly on this point.

The slat was narrow but not too narrow; Jesse could _probably_ fit the bomb under if they aimed right. They pressed their face to the musty floor (trying not to sneeze), and stared out. They couldn't see any shadows on this side, so it'd probably be okay.

They laid the bomb on the floor with as much carefulness as they could. Backed it up with one hand slowly.

(The other griefer whispered an indignant "hey!" as Jesse almost brushed against their foot by accident with the bomb.)

Jesse slid it as fast as possible.

Which resulted in a slight dilemma. Yes, the bomb slid out from under the slat in the desk fairly nicely- minus the loud clattering- but it also flipped and landed not ten feet away.

... it couldn't be like a nuke, right? That'd just vaporize _everyone_ in the building, including Magnus... so it was like... a stick of dynamite.

Well, the desk might be their best bet. At least it gave them _some_ semblance of cover...

The griefer abruptly hauled them out of their hiding spot and pulled themselves into it, heaving the board back in place. Jesse whispered a little " _hey!_ " but it was too late- there were footsteps ringing in the echoing walls of the building. Probably Magnus, with how slow and deliberate they were.

Three minutes until it exploded.

Jesse crawled out a bit, tapping on the floor to make sure it wasn't just elevated or rotting. Admittedly the carpet was rotting, but-

Jesse struck a board that felt hollow.

They paused, then felt on the floor.

A loose board came up and off the floor, revealing a mess of dirt, support structures, cement, wires, generators and water tanks and who knew what else below it.

Jesse hesitated only a second.

Then the footsteps grew a hair louder and Jesse dove under the board, yanked it back into place the best they could (getting splinters and a pinch to their fingers), and began to essentially army-crawl through the tiny space under the floor.

It smelled horrific. Leaking water and the smell of rotting wool and wood and who knew what else, but Jesse just pulled their shirt up over their nose, listening to the sounds of beeping get fainter as they wormed towards what was hopefully safety.

A loud, loud creak right above their head.

Jesse very nearly jumped out of their skin and bit their lip to keep from yelping, hard enough that they could taste blood. They weren't heavy footsteps, so it had to be Magnus- he was one of the lighter-set griefers. They swallowed the taste of blood and scrabbled to get further away.

"Huh."

Magnus's voice was muffled through the thick floorboards and the creaking boards and the cracks, but it was still audible and it took all of Jesse's experience with not waking up their guardian slumped on a couch and snoring, dead to the world with a bottle dangling in his fingers, not waking him up when he gave a louder snore or when he jerked and grumbled in his sleep- it took _all_ of that experience to not give a little squeak.

"Bomb's been displaced..."

His footsteps sped up, but grew more and more distant.

Jesse kept slowly army-crawling along the floor, trying not to breathe in the fumes of scent that made their eyes water a little bit. It couldn't be good for their health.

And only some god out there knew how much they needed something good for their health.

A loud yelp, and some boisterous laughter from Magnus, burst out behind them. He'd been found.

They supposed it was a good thing that they'd been forced out of that hiding spot, then; the displacement of the bomb probably had given them away.

Then again, Magnus _had_ hidden the bomb, so he knew the right hiding spots-

"Anyone down here?"

Jesse immediately put their head down and went stock-still as Magnus's voice echoed in the crawl space behind them, a bit faint but the echoes making it practically crystal-clear.

A beam of light shone over their head and into the space in front of them, illuminating the darkness only a bit farther, but dissolving into pure blackness further along. A few dust motes hovered in the tiny space.

Jesse didn't dare move. Magnus hadn't seen them moving before he'd turned the light on, and with how dark it was and the fact that they were wearing their black fuzzy jacket and black pants- _they would really have to thank the October Children and Petra for giving them that tip_ \- there was a _good chance_ that Magnus hadn't seen them.

The beam scanned the space.

"... huh. I guess not many people can fit in there."

The beam vanished.

Jesse resisted heaving a sigh of relief.

It would be quite disgusting to do so, down here.

* * *

 **A/N: ahhhh this chapter took a while, I'm sorry T^T**

 **this chapter is the _apple_ of my eye. _orange_ you glad i didn't have jesse get caught immediately? oh, _lettuce_ be serious, jesse wasn't going to get caught anyway, but _pear_ with me for a few chapters longer.**

 **please wash your hands and stay safe from the coronavirus. just basically exercise the same precautions you would if there was a nasty flu going around.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**

* * *

"Noooo, they won't get hurt, you said," Mevia quietly growled at Hadrian. "'They'll be fine', they said."

Hadrian arched his eyebrow at her. "I don't think I ever said that."

"Be quiet before I rip your head off and feed it to the zombies."

"You wish you could."

"I have an axe."

"So do I. You're not special."

Gill and Maya watched the two snarl at each other.

"... this is just uncomfortable."

"Yeah..."

"I don't think you two usually shoot death threats at each other casually," Radar mumbled.

Despite the snarling, there was a sort of camaderie or bantering undertone to it. Radar got the feeling that neither of them would actually kill each other, given the chance.

"I could tear your throat out right now, Hadrian."

"With those nails? I don't doubt it."

That didn't mean listening to them didn't make Radar nervous, though.


	70. First Challenge Concluded

Jesse had been army-crawling around the dirty, dank, underspace of the building for so long, they could barely remember how clean air usually smelled.

... okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it _did_ smell horrific under here, and Jesse was surprised they had managed to stifle their sneezes and muffle their coughs (and retches) and... well, not vomit.

Periodically, they heard the bombs go off. They sounded like those weird little snapper things that you threw on the ground and they popped, from where Jesse was. Maybe because they were so far above them, or far away.

Eventually, there was one final pop, and there was a moment of silence.

Then Magnus's magically-magnified voice boomed out right above them, and Jesse almost jumped and banged their head on the wooden floorboards above them. "All challengers, come to a halt! The last bomb has just gone off. We have found three of the six challengers in this time, so they are eliminated from the tournament."

There were jeers from the crowd- presumably at the losers of the challenge- and Magnus continued. "Will all remaining challengers please get the heck out of wherever they're hiding so I can announce the next challenge?"

Jesse pushed experimentally on the floorboard right above them.

There was a long pause.

Then the board was being yanked up and Magnus was blinking down at Jesse.

They squirmed hastily out of their hiding spot, Magnus grabbing them by the back of their shirt and yanking them out when they momentarily got stuck, lifting them clear out of the floor and setting them down. He wrinkled his nose at them, looking... almost a little pleased but trying not to.

"Jeez, you smell gross right now, Tiny."

Jesse may or may not have given him the flattest, most irritated _really_? look ever at that, his voice almost echoing in the stadium.

(They were pretty sure they saw Radar jumping up and down in excitement when they heard that, but Maya or Mevia or somebody had yanked him back into his seat before they could confirm.)

Eventually, the other challengers also convened- dusting dirt and cobwebs and who-knew-what-else off of themselves- and Magnus burst back into announcing right as Jesse took the moment to sneeze, which almost made them jump and get snot everywhere.

They hated being sick with a deep and burning passion.

"So! The next challenge," Magnus continued, either unaware of or ignoring Jesse frantically figuring out what to do with their face and the fact that they had nothing to actually wipe their face with, "is one focused around... well, actually, telling you what it's focused around would ruin it, so I'm not gonna."

Boos from the crowd, but Jesse could tell it was in good fun.

... well, they were pretty sure it was.

"Challengers will go into a locked room to be told their task. Nobody else is allowed in, along with the other challengers. If they pass, they'll be led onto this platform."

There was a platform made of rather rickety wood. It struck Jesse that it looked like the bridges in Sky City, except this one at least wasn't over a bottomless chasm full of gas.

"But if they fail, they get led off this edge and fall into this mud pit."

"Where's the danger?" one griefer yelled.

"Inside the building, dumbass," Magnus yelled back, which would've made Jesse laugh, except they were still dealing with a faceful of snot.

Jesse could see everyone in the crowd placing bets on who they thought would make it through this 'gauntlet of terror' or whatever was inside the building. Most people were pointing at the other guys; Hadrian was talking with one guy and pointing at Jesse.

Mevia looked like she was going to wring his neck.

Lovely. Nothing different on that front.

* * *

The challenge took a damn long time, apparently.

Jesse said _apparently_ because after they managed to clean themselves up and not have snot all over their face, the first challenger still wasn't done.

The building was soundproof, bomb-proof (or at least bomb-resistant, Magnus had amended after a moment, a big enough bomb would probably still damage it), and had no windows, so nobody had any idea _what_ was going on in there.

A moment later, there was a shriek, and the first griefer fell off the ledge and landed head-first in the mud pit.

There were a lot of groans and money exchanging hands on the people who'd voted that he'd win; Jesse was pretty sure they saw Hadrian take some money in the crowd.

Jesse stood up to make sure he was fine and hadn't broken his neck or something; to see the griefer cursing every foul word in the book and floundering through the thick black mud. It looked disgusting and germ-infested and if Jesse landed in that, they were pretty sure their illness would decidedly take a turn into "even more gross" land.

"Tiny!"

Jesse jumped half out of their skin and turned to see Magnus, who was waiting at the door of the building, grinning like a madman about to see his wildest dreams come true.

"You're up next."

They followed him quietly into the room that he had prepared for the challenge. He stopped them on a large black circle, just outside the door, and strolled across the room.

Jesse took the opportunity to take a look around the room. The room was a really nondescript one, with plain white walls and a ceiling lit by a single redstone lamp. The only odd thing, really, was the large expanse of floor was made up of an almost blinding array of gold or red rectangular tiles, so practically blinding under all the light that was reflecting off the white walls that Jesse almost had to blink tears out of their eyes, as if they were standing in pure heat. The occasional blue or black circle that dotted the floor almost looked like a black hole in comparison; Jesse stared for a bit before realizing Magnus was waiting for them to look back up at him across this expansive room and quickly lifted their head to look at him.

He clicked something- like a little clicker- and the sound of beeping went off, making Jesse jump and look around frantically, as if expecting him to go "psyche!" and just have the room blow off.

Nothing happened, and they looked back at Magnus, who was smiling broadly.

Jesse didn't really like that smile. It was terrifying.

"Under every single red or gold square," Magnus instructed, making them look up at him, "is a bomb that I just activated. Not one that'll blow you sky high- but it'll definitely hurt a lot."

Jesse stared. That was a LOT of gold and red tiles on the ground... almost the whole floor, really. How many bombs had Magnus made for this?

Actually, never mind that. Jesse didn't particularly want to know.

"So, Tiny."

Jesse looked back up to see Magnus's grin widen like the Cheshire Cat's.

"Your job is to get across the floor to the circle I'm standing on without touching a single gold or red square."

* * *

 **A/N: An update!**

 **So two things. 1) Animal Crossing New Horizons is great and I might publish a small fic for the hell of it.**

 **2) Toni42 (writer of Movie Mode) and I have a deal; every time I update October Children (or possibly the animal crossing fic), he has to update Movie Mode... or I don't update xD Love you bear, broadcasting this. :P**

 **Please stay safe from the coronavirus. Be an introvert! Stay indoors! xD but seriously that's probably the best way to fight this right now. just stay inside as much as you can and if you do go outside, give everyone a super wide berth. Also practice good hygiene and common sense.**

 **You will only understand the next bit if you played Animal Crossing.**

 **I'm _miles_ and _miles_ away from every _nook_ and _cranny_ with anything dangerous in it right now, or even motivation! _Bell_ -ease give me some motivation for something other than schoolwork (all online) now, or I'll be more bored than a _dodo!_**

 **That's all for now, guys. See ya, so long, g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	71. Fifteen Minutes And Two Seconds

Jesse stared down at the overwhelming multitude of screaming bright tiles on the floor.

"Oh, and you get half an hour," Magnus added helpfully a few moments later, which made Jesse nearly jump out of their skin. "Strategy and all that, y'know?"

Strategy. An odd thing for the King of Boom Town to suggest. Out of place- at least, for this demon.

Jesse looked back at the floor, looking at it closely. The bright tiles made their eyes practically cross from how mind-bogglingly dizzying it was; they could barely see it from where they were standing.

"Er... can I bend down and look at the tiles closer?" Jesse asked, after a long moment.

Magnus grinned in reply. "Only rule of the Death Bowl, kid, is no eye poking."

... that really was the only rule, wasn't it.

"So yeah, go for it. You've got twenty-nine minutes."

Jesse stooped down on their safe-space of floor and peered at the tiles carefully. They were still bright, but Jesse could at least see the lines of the tiles and how they fit together, in a funny criss-crossing pattern.

For a moment, Jesse had no idea why it felt funny.

And then it clicked.

 _Square._

 _He said square._

 _But none of these are_ square _, they're rectangles._

Jesse stared at the floor, remembering something their math teacher had taught them in geometry, chanting it over and over until it had been bored into their skull and probably when they were nothing but bones it would be literally drilled _into_ their bones.

 _All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares._

It couldn't be that simple, could it? The floor was _covered_ in them. Surely he'd rigged them... or maybe not.

This was a challenge of something... could it be creativity?

Or was it being a good listener? Listening for details? Paying attention?

Something someone who was handling negative energy would have to do?

"... can I ask you what the person before me did?" Jesse asked, after a length of time had passed. "Since eye-poking's the only thing that seems to be against the rules."

Magnus grinned broadly at their remark. "He did some parkour, basically- ran along the walls and some fancy handsprings and shit."

"And that resulted in him 'losing'," Jesse clarified.

Magnus shrugged with a grin.

They supposed he wasn't about to give them a straight answer about this...

Jesse crossed their arms and stared. They'd have thought they'd encounter this sort of thing in Redstonia, with lines of redstone and cogs and gears and thinking, not in a town where griefers blew people to smithereens.

The griefer had been as creative as he could be, considering the situation. And yet he had failed.

It was odd. Out of place, for a more logical thought to come into Magnus's head, and yet considering what he wanted them to do, it made sense.

They sneezed again, repressing a scowl as they wiped their raw nose a little bit. Next time they went to a shop, they were going to buy tissues.

If demons even had tissues...

"Twenty-five minutes left," Magnus announced, making them jump.

Jesse frowned at him and glanced around the room. No, surely it couldn't be as simple as walking across the floor, he'd had that thing which triggered the bombs... surely it wasn't _that_ simple.

And that's when they saw it.

The clock.

It was a very simple clock, same as the analog ones at Jesse's home, except it looked a bit modern in the fact that it only had 15-minute-intervals. It was oddly sleek in the multicolored mess of a room, set up neatly on the wall behind Magnus, above the door out of the room.

... why was there a clock?

Jesse glanced from Magnus to the clock.

Magnus was keeping track of time, so why did they need a clock as a timer? Maybe he was using it to keep track of the time himself?

No. No, that couldn't be it, because the clock was _behind_ Magnus. He hadn't turned around to look at it once.

The long hand was halfway between the 12 and 3 now.

In that case, why was there a clock, in a room constructed to either be blown half-to-smithereens (if Magnus was being truthful about the bombs) or at the very _least,_ not a permanent building? Surely a detail like that would just be wasted? Unless it was a clue...

"Twenty minutes left," Magnus announced, but Jesse was so deep in thought they barely heard it.

This had to mean something. A clock on the wall... with fifteen-minute intervals.

The last contestant...

Jesse looked back at Magnus. "How long did the last contestant take in here?"

If Jesse was on the right trail for anything, he didn't show it- he just grinned at them. "Let's see... he took about 20 minutes to get a strategy going, and less than a minute to get here... we'll say 21 minutes."

Jesse glanced up at the clock. Clocks usually went in _five_ minute intervals (analog ones, at least), with the 12, 3, 6, and 9 marks bolded or having numbers. This one didn't even have the five-minute marks to indicate where it was.

The long hand was getting close to the fifteen-minute mark.

"Did anything blow up?" Jesse asked, after a moment.

Magnus nodded. "Yep; he dropped something onto a tile right before he got going, just to see if it was fine, and it blew up."

Fifteen-minute intervals... a clock in a room for a game, possibly with bombs... rectangles instead of squares...

Finally, Jesse shrugged- if it came to it they could run- and strode forward onto the floor, walking straight across the tiled floor without any hesitation, holding their chin high.

Nothing blew up, and when they came to a stop in front of Magnus, they looked up at him boldly.

Magnus hummed, clicking the thing he'd pressed to prime the bombs. Jesse caught a glimpse of the time.

 _15:02._

They looked back up at him, waiting for him to lead them through a door- or even just chuck something at the floor.

Instead, his grin broadened.

"Congratulations. You passed."

Jesse sagged in relief. "Oh..."

"Actually, Tiny, since we've got... another fifteen minutes until you've gotta show your face..." He grinned. "How _did_ you figure it out? Ellie helped me a lot with the puzzle."

Ellie... Ellegaard?

"Well, at her insistence anyway. Said she didn't want any random empty-headed numpty trying to help me."

Jesse blinked back to attention. "Well... you said squares. But none of the tiles on the floor were squares, they were rectangles..."

Magnus's grin somehow widened. He shifted Jesse to point at the floor.

On the floor... the rectangles had shifted, slowly, to reveal extra tiles.

They were all, indeed, now all squares.

Jesse's head snapped up and they looked around him.

"The floor is actually tilted very slightly in one direction. Every tile has a weighted one kind of in this slot-" Magnus pointed at it; it was so thin Jesse could barely even see it with how bright the floor was. "So the gravity leads them to slowly, over the course of around 15 minutes, slide over. Once they fit in place... they trigger a switch, and the bombs get primed after a few seconds."

"So the click was for..." Jesse said slowly, a bit of the puzzle snapping into place.

"The tiles to start sliding into place. They move so slowly, and the room is so brightly colored, it's really hard to tell that they're shifting." Magnus gave them a lopsided grin. "How'd you figure out the time limit?"

Jesse shifted. "The clock seemed funny... since you were keeping time, and the time intervals were weird."

His grin widened again. "Good job, tiny."

Jesse blushed a little shyly; he clapped them on the back and began to lead them up to the platform. "Let's get you up onto the platform."

A short pause.

"It'll make you taller, at the very least."

* * *

 **A/N: This puzzle was a mix of something from the Webtoon Tower of God and from the first book in the Mysterious Benedict Society series; Ellegaard and Magnus do collaborate.**

 **Reluctantly.**

 **Very, very reluctantly.**

 **Numpty is my new favorite insult. It's so fun to say.**

 **I _switch_ ed to a new style of living; total isolation. I'm _Xbox_ ed in here at my _p_ _lay station_. I keep playing Animal Crossing, though, I'm too invested in this _game, boy_.**

 **I am very sorry fjdk;a**

 **Responses to new reviews!**

 **472115: Thank you for reading! I'm glad you were happy to see the notif :D**

 **silentrachel: It makes sense; now we're both motivated to update haha**

 **LemonsandMelons: sorry for the late reply! but yes. hopefully he doesn't get his head ripped off.  
**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	72. Is This Pokemon

Jesse had been waiting on the platform for about thirty minutes now.

They could see Gill waving at them and yelling; but he was far enough away that Jesse just flat-out couldn't hear him, and Maya had yanked him down a few times now to avoid attracting every demon's attention.

Abruptly, there was a yell, and the other contestant (?) shrieked and fell into the mud below. There was another series of groans, but people paying up, and Magnus stepped out onto the platform.

"Uh... so, as you can see, the challenges were so effective that we eliminated everyone except for one person prior to the actual third event," he announced.

(Part of him seemed irritated. Maybe because both of the griefers, who were probably from Boom Town, had failed the intellectual challenge.

Maybe he was in a rivalry with Ellegaard, then, rather than just being friends with her?)

"However, this doesn't mean the Death Bowl is over!"

Jesse could've sworn they heard Mevia loudly go "oh, _COME ON!_ " in the crowd, but when they looked over at the little smear of blue and purple that was Mevia and Hadrian, both of them were scuffling slightly- though it could easily be Hadrian's attempt to try to shut her up.

"Rather than a conventional challenge, like last year where we had the remaining contestants dangled over a volcano and had to make their way out without falling in- which neither of them actually succeeded at, so maybe we should change that one a little bit next year-"

Jesse made a note that they were very glad that the other contestants had failed this challenge so that they did not have to be dangled over a volcano.

"- what would be more _conventional_ than a fight to the death? We are demons, after all," and now a huge roar came from the crowd, making Jesse wince a little as Magnus had to raise his voice to be heard over the swell of the crowd, "what would make this more fun than a little bloodshed?"

Okay, never mind, Jesse kinda wanted to take the volcano challenge now.

Magnus turned to Jesse and gave them a grin. "So, Tiny. You get twenty minutes to prepare, pick your weapon, make sure it's all fair on your end. I'm gonna pick three different contestants that you're going to have to fight."

He slapped them on the back. "You win, you win the Death Bowl this year. You fail..."

He shrugged. "Well, I don't really gotta explain it to you, do I?"

* * *

Twenty minutes went by faster than Jesse wanted it to.

They felt like they were studying (cramming) for a test, scanning the book for good spells. Most of them were not combat spells (there were more spells for summoning fire to cook than summoning fire for defense, especially in the beginner section, which made sense because you could probably easily burn someone), but Jesse managed to at least memorize a weak light spell and some remotely stronger spells.

Nothing like the light spell they'd used with Aiden, because they'd promptly pass right out after that.

Magnus came in to see Jesse hunched over the book. "You got your weapon, Tiny?"

Jesse held it up a little. "Um, magic... is that allowed?"

"Well, kiddo, the only rule is-"

"I know, I know, no eye-poking," Jesse said, smiling weakly at him.

He grinned back at them widely. "You ready?"

"Am I allowed to say no?"

He grinned, sitting down on a nearby chair. His grin softened a little. "Don't worry, kid, I'm not gonna let you die. First off, I think Ivor would kill me..."

Jesse paused, then blinked up at Magnus. "You know Ivor?"

"I mean... duh. He's my lord. Or, at least, right now he's the only lord I can answer to. Since... well, Jupin's empty." For a moment, Magnus's smile became more grim, before he ruffled Jesse's hair and made them squeak. "And if Ivor doesn't kill me, Mevia will, and let me tell you now, I _do not_ want her to kill me."

"But... you said... a battle to the death..." Jesse murmured this.

He gave a lopsided grin. "Hey. The only rule's 'no eye poking'. There's nothing stopping me from changing the rule to get you out of there at the last second if things go really shit for you."

There was a small rush of relief. Then concern. "Won't the griefers get mad?"

Magnus shrugged. "Hell yeah, they will, but if I promise next year's Death Bowl will be more exciting and death-defying, they'll forget about it in two days. Plus, the Death Bowl this year is more to handle the negative energy problem."

Jesse paused.

Then looked up at him.

"If I fail this last challenge... what happens with the negative energy problem?"

Magnus frowned. "Not gonna lie, not sure. But I won't just be throwing you into deep water so you can drown. So you definitely won't be allowed to handle it. Maybe wait around until Ivor comes around..."

Jesse frowned at that.

Waiting might not be a good idea, was it? If it was really bad...

Well, they supposed that settled it.

They would have to try their best to beat whatever challenger they had to face.

No matter what it was.

* * *

The arena had been set up like a typical arena now, Magnus's voice booming. There were three competitors standing there- 'volunteers', apparently. One was that girl Nohr that they'd met back on their first time coming to Boom Town. Another was a green-haired demon with goggles and almost unhealthy gray skin, hands in their pockets and watching silently. And another was a buff guy- "Slab" was his name. He was reading his own book.

"The possible challengers have been selected!" Magnus boomed. "The final challenger will have to pick any of the contestants standing on this platform. The two will then either fight until the other challenger concedes. Once one party gives up, the winner gets to decide their fate."

"DEATH!" Nohr yelled.

Jesse decided not to pick her.

Magnus turned to Jesse, giving them a grin from where he was standing on the platform, gesturing at the three contestants. "So. Who do you pick, Tiny?"

"I can pick whoever I want, right?" Jesse asked, an idea abruptly surfacing.

Magnus shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, whoever's on the platform."

Jesse looked.

Slab looked invested in his book and like he'd rather finish it than beat them to a pulp. Nohr- well, Nohr had just yelled death, and the green person...

Jesse paused.

Then lifted their finger and pointed at Magnus.

"I choose you."

* * *

 **A/N: "Pikachu! I choose you!"**

 **Lol. This is gonna go "great" for Jesse.**

 **I really really want Night in the Woods all of a sudden. but there's also a dating sim where u can take care of dogs coming out in may HHHHH what do I do**

 **To clarify: last chapter's puzzle, the clicker moved a slot out of the way that let slightly weighted tiles start sliding into place to form squares on the floor, since the floor was tilted to one side. After fifteen minutes, the tiles would have fully moved into place, making them all squares. The reason it was hard to notice was due to the bright colors.**

 **Responses to new reviewers!**

 **Bright: Tysm! I honestly don't know what I'm doing that much when it comes to writing so I'm glad people like it haha / Thank you! You stay safe too :D**

 **That's all for now. See ya, so long, and g'bye!**


	73. The Death Bowl

Magnus blinked.

Everything had gone eerily quiet.

There'd been this sort of quiet din from all the griefers watching in excitement that had faded into white noise in Jesse's mind- but now it was totally silent. Like the entire arena was collectively holding their breaths, waiting for the reply.

Slab had frozen in the middle of turning a page, the page slipping from his fingers and falling open. The green-haired person (who was still unfamiliar) was regarding them through those weird goggles. And Nohr's mouth was hanging open, almost comically wide.

Then Magnus grinned.

"Awright, Tiny," and he stepped forward off the platform. "If you wanna fight me, then we'll fight."

He cleared his throat, and the next words he said boomed out over the arena. "We'll build two towers, one for each of us. Once atop the tower, the two participants will do their best to destroy the other tower and knock the other person off of theirs. The first person to succeed wins this year's DEATH BOWWWWWL!"

Jesse winced and covered their ears, wiping their nose again as the din from the crowd returned, at an almost deafening volume.

* * *

"Well, the slugger's gonna die," Hadrian deadpanned.

"Shut up," Mevia hissed at him, red-and-black eyes flashing with anger.

Gill and Maya put their heads in their hands in perfect unison. Radar looked distinctly frazzled at this point, his glasses askew from flying down to hide his face multiple times.

At least Ivor and Harper weren't here to completely murder the four of them for letting Jesse participate in this thing.

* * *

The towers were built by magic- when Jesse meekly asked about it, Magnus had shrugged and said he had an affinity for building and destruction magic- the building magic was because he destroyed so many buildings that they needed to build new ones quickly and efficiently- and so before even five minutes was up Jesse was at the top of a tower, looking around.

Fitting to form, Jesse's tower wasn't the tallest.

Actually, it was the shorter of the two.

Okay fine, it was the shortest tower Jesse had ever seen.

At least it couldn't be knocked over easily.

"So, Tiny!" Magnus boomed down from where he was quite literally towering over them.

( _Haha, get it? TOWER?_ )

( _... Jesse was sure Aiden would probably have punched them in the face for that pun._ )

"You ready?"

Jesse sighed, looking around themselves. "I guess... did you really have to make your tower taller than mine?"

"Of course. At least you get the advantage of not getting knocked over like wooden blocks," he yelled back, making them shake their head.

Hopefully his tower was also not constructed like wooden blocks, or else Jesse couldn't imagine what would happen if he brained himself.

He gave them a huge grin. "Ready?"

Jesse sighed and wiped their face, sniffling to try to keep the snot from dripping. "Ready as I'll ever be, I guess..."

"Fantastic!" And he was abruptly pulling out a block of dynamite and lobbing it at them.

It landed in front of Jesse, the fuse already burning down at an alarming rate. Jesse yelped, grabbed it, and lobbed it hard in a random direction to avoid it blowing up in their face.

It blew up alarmingly close to the crowd, gaining them several screams of excitement that made Jesse wince. Hopefully they hadn't hurt anyone...

Part of them wondered where Axel was and if he was biting his nails anxiously watching the thing, or with the weird thrill seekers screaming their heads off in excitement.

It was highly possible that it was the latter.

Magnus was already prepping more TNT. Jesse was desperately trying to remember a proper spell.

All they could remember was the one to summon a fire for cooking and a shield spell, which weren't very helpful for this-

Unless they could make the shield big enough.

Jesse had approximately ten seconds to make a shield before Magnus unleashed a volley of dynamite on their heads (which was absolutely not what they wanted and would possibly kill them), but the shield spell took an ungodly amount of time.

Reuben was squealing in the crowd from where they'd set the little piggy to stay with Maya and Gill.

Without warning, they were abruptly yelling, " _Vermenigvuldigen_ _çoxaltmaq iomadach_ \- uh- pig!"

... did they seriously just-

Abruptly several pigs popped out of nowhere and landed on Magnus's tower and Jesse's. They were very cute.

Yep, their brain had automatically decided to cast the duplication spell and make several little pigs.

"Whoa! Get off, you pigs!" Magnus yelled, trying to avoid stepping on one or kicking one off of the platform where it would undoubtedly splat on the ground.

One of the pigs snuffled at Jesse's ankle. Jesse gave it a quick grin, but then quickly lifted their hands. The little pigs were a good distraction, but Magnus would probably shake it off soon enough and get back to lobbing dynamite at their face. They hoped the distraction would buy them a few more seconds to cast the shield spell.

Which shield spell worked? Why couldn't they have remembered more advanced spells than the cooking fire spell? Why the hell had they remembered the duplication spell but not something more helpful?

Magnus managed to lob another stick of dynamite at them, the fuse burning down faster than Jesse would've really liked.

Which shield spell _which shield spell why did Jesse feel like they were taking a test_ -

"Uhh- _lùth Orka kusog industria_!" Jesse blurted.

Abruptly, there was a surge of energy in their chest- like they'd just downed seven energy drinks and coffee combined.

Which was nice, but... not the right thing.

The little pig next to Jesse nudged the dynamite to fall to the ground. Jesse squeaked and punted it off to the side, where it blew up- once again near the poor members of the crowd.

Well, actually, they were pretty excited about it, so maybe it wasn't so bad...

Some of the pigs were nudging at the ground, looking for mud. Maybe it was hot.

Actually, yeah. It was very hot right now. Either from the explosions or the fact that Boom Town was located in a desert-like region.

Jesse pointed at a section of floor and made a small circle. " _Luto lapok_ ," they recited, and the stones melted into a little mud puddle, which all the pigs on their section of tower flocked to.

"Get off, you pigs!" Magnus yelled, a little frustrated.

Jesse paused, then looked at the base around the tower.

Knock the tower over...

Well, if the base was unsteady, the whole thing would fall over, right?

They hoped Magnus wouldn't get hurt.

They paused for a moment, debating if it was against the rules or not- then decided that the only rule of the Death Bowl that had been stated was 'no eye-poking', so they could do whatever they want within reason and pointed at the ground around the tower-

Dynamite bounced off their arm.

Jesse squeaked and hastily bounced it around, trying not to drop it onto their tower, before chucking it at a different section of the arena. It erupted, sending a column of sand and dirt flying.

( _They could hear Slab give a slightly disgruntled "hey!_ _" as they got debris on his book._ )

They _really_ needed a better distraction. Or that shield spell...

Jesse threw their arms up and crossed them. "Uh, _kalasag schild clypeus_ _mburojë-_ "

Crap, what was the last word?

They could feel the swell of the spell die as they hesitated a moment too long. It sounded like- parka, right? That was the last word?

No, it wasn't _parka_... what was it...?

* * *

"Slugger's seriously going to die," Hadrian murmured, hand clenching the bar in front of him as he scanned.

"Oh, really? Who wanted to enter them in the Death Bowl?" Mevia snapped at him, her own eyes fixed on the scene as Jesse seemed to be frozen.

Radar had fully ducked down to avoid watching. Reuben snuffled as he watched the multitude of little pigs wandering around on the field.

"Would you two please quit going on about them dying? I don't really want Lukas to kill us both," Maya groaned.

* * *

Jesse knocked away another stick of dynamite and threw their hands up. " _Kalasag schild clypeus mburogë- karka? Lark?_ " they asked desperately.

The spell died in reply.

A whole deluge of dynamite came flying down at them, Magnus cackling slightly.

Jesse squeaked and threw their arms up to cover their face, their mind running through the shield spell over and over, trying everything they could think of, no chance to block-

 _Kalasag schild clypeus mburogë tarka_.

That was the right spell.

But they had no time to put their arms in the right position and recite it without the dynamite-

 _Clunk-clunk-clunk_.

Jesse paused.

Then lowered their arms enough to peek.

A bubble had formed around the tower, the dynamite having all bounced off. A few had actually exploded near Magnus's tower.

Magic with no setup at all...

Jesse allowed themselves exactly two seconds to stare before hastily shifting, circling the area around Magnus's tower with their finger, trying to imagine it the best they could- they could worry about it later, when they weren't in the middle of a fight where someone was throwing TNT at them.

" _Luto- luto lapok_ ," they recited shakily.

It was a very simple mud spell- there were spells that could turn a whole city to mud, but this just made a few inches of topsoil and dirt turn into mud, and they couldn't remember the other ones anyway.

The ground looked unchanged.

Then, slowly, the base of the tower started to sink, the ground around it darkening only slightly.

Magnus lifted another block of dynamite to chuck at them; it sent cracks spiking up the shield.

Jesse's vision went black for a moment; they trembled a little and wiped their face, still trying not to drip snot everywhere. Hopefully ( _hopefully_ ) none of the dynamite hit them.

Because, uh, they'd probably be a little bit dead if that happened.

Some of the piggies looked up at Jesse with big eyes. One had a splot of mud on its head.

Jesse shifted awkwardly. "Um... a-attack?" they said questioningly.

The piggies looked up at Jesse for a minute longer, before all of them scurried off.

"Here comes a big one, Tiny!" Magnus yelled. Even from this distance, Jesse could see a maniacally excited grin on his face.

Great, they were going to die.

Jesse let the shield die as he threw this- except it wasn't dynamite; it looked more like a cartoon bomb. Jesse juggled it back and forth for a moment, before desperately chucking it at the base of his tower.

Of course, they'd always been last picked for PE for a reason (okay, well, two reasons), and the bomb soared at the center of the arena, nowhere near Magnus's tower-

A little wave of Jesse's duplicated pigs came surging out from Jesse's tower, bouncing off one of their backs and into another one's mouth. The little pigs all charged at the mud puddle.

They watched, getting ready to put up a new shield if this failed.

The little pigs crowded at a section of Magnus's tower, then quickly began to flee back in Jesse's direction. Even at the distance they were at, Jesse could see the piggy that had grabbed the bomb didn't have it anymore.

They frowned and scanned the base of his tower, before spotting a little spark that had _just_ burned to the base.

The bomb exploded, sending shockwaves of mud flying everywhere and making Jesse stagger a little from the concussive force.

Magnus's tower was beginning to tilt to one side, very slightly.

The little pigs on Magnus's tower, still running around in circles and butting against his legs and being general nuisances, all surged to the side that had started dipping.

There was a small crack.

Jesse didn't actually see Magnus's tower fall, due to having to sneeze right then (of course, very convenient), but they certainly _heard_ it. And _felt_ it. It was such a resounding, crashing sound, with a small yelp from Magnus, that it sent vibrations rumbling through Jesse's throat and knocking them onto their bum.

There was a long silence.

Jesse peeked over to see several pigs wandering around in the rubble of the tower, going to the giant mud puddle Jesse had made to cool off.

Was Magnus okay...?

"And with that, Tiny wins the Death Bowl!" Magnus's voice boomed out, his head popping out of the rubble like he was a meerkat or something.

The demons broke into yells and whistles (as well as a mix of money exchanging hands) at that.

Jesse gave a slightly relieved sound, plopping to sit down on their short little tower.

* * *

"Okay, so the slugger _didn't_ die."

"Yes." Mevia eyed him. "And you're _happy_ about that, correct?"

"I'm happy you and Ivor aren't going to murder me in my sleep over it, yes..."

Maya and Gill were too busy cheering until they lost their voices to try to stop the argument. Radar poked his head over the ledge to see Jesse watching the pigs go muddle around in the mud.

"... why are there pigs..."

* * *

 **A/N: Nobody was badly harmed in the writing of this chapter.**

 **Including the pigs.**

 **They just wanna play in the mud puddle it's hot xD**

 **Responses to questions/reviews!**

 **Northern Goshawk: I dunno, is Slab gonna show up more? xD 'Tis a mystery.**

 **472115: Jesse was not standing on the platform, but they could've done that xD**

 **Toni42: Doggo dating sim doggo dating sim**

 **TheAmberShadow: 'Cause the griefers would be annoyed xD / It can't be gotten rid of, but it does make it a lot harder for it to get a hold in things. / ;3 / Probably but it's too late now xD**

 **Guest: I already have the entire story planned out, so who said I hadn't already planned this xD I'm glad you enjoy my stories though!**

 **That's it for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**


	74. A Particularly Dumb Batch

Admittedly, the plan had been to _rest_ so Jesse had enough energy to expel the... well, negative energy.

However, Magnus put a tiny, _tiny_ dent in those plans.

"It's been getting pretty bad," he said, oddly quietly ( _after Axel had plucked Jesse right up off the floor to celebrate and Maya had had to rescue them before he dropped them and Hadrian had given Jesse another handkerchief to blow their nose as a kind of gift(?) and Mevia had fussed over them for half an hour_ ).

Jesse frowned. "Is it consuming things or something?"

He shook his head. "Not yet. But it'll start corrupting soon, if we don't do something about it."

Jesse frowned. "Corrupting?"

"Negative energy has the lovely side effect of making people act at their worst when they're exposed to it for too long," Mevia chimed in.

 _Like a Horcrux,_ Jesse thought absently.

"They're more likely to snap or jump to the wrong conclusions, and then they're more likely to confront people with the wrong conclusions and insist they're right even when provided with all the evidence that they're not."

"... so like a Karen?"

Reuben almost sniggered at that; the demons just looked confused. "What's a Karen?" Radar asked absently.

Jesse blushed a little at the missed joke. They supposed it was probably less of a joke in the demon realm. "Um... never mind... so it'll start corrupting people soon? Why hasn't it started already?"

"Two reasons," Magnus said. "One, people have been so excited about the Death Bowl that it's been difficult for it to start corrupting people without them immediately noticing and coming to me to get it out. I can _not_ tell you how many times I've had to extract it this week alone."

"And... the other reason?" Gill asked, after a moment of Magnus not saying anything.

"I think this particular batch of negative energy's just really stupid, it infected a cow and just staggered around mooing like a drunken idiot," Magnus promptly replied.

The image of a drunk cow popped into Jesse's head at that and they had to stifle quite a few giggles at the idea.

"You're okay at magic, right Jesse?" Maya asked, glancing at Jesse.

They considered it, chewing on their lip, before giving a little shrug. "I've been doing okay with it..."

"Forget okay. You're a novice and you cast a spell nonverbally," Hadrian grunted (Jesse blushed a little; they hadn't realized that the 'nonverbal' casting was so obvious). "You're either a prodigy, or something's wrong with you."

Mevia kicked him.

Magnus grunted as Hadrian cussed at her rudely and 'accidentally' shoulder-checked her. "Yeah... well, we're hoping to try to just purify this batch enough that it goes away. It hasn't really gotten bad yet, since people've been so high-alert due to the Death Bowl and... well, like I said, it's a particularly stupid strain."

"It's not... sentient, right?" Jesse asked, dreading the answer.

Besides the sentient negative energy locked away beneath Jupin, Jesse didn't know if negative energy was really _sentient_. People certainly talked about it like it was, 'seeking' things to merge with... and it hadn't acted aimlessly in that storm in Enchantra.

"Oh, hell no," Magnus said absently, "it's kinda like... uhhh... you know how sometimes ants go crawling out in the open even though you keep squishing them? Kinda like that. Negative energy's not really sentient in the sense that it could communicate. Just kinda like a bug or something."

Jesse hummed slightly, considering this. "Some bugs are kinda cool..."

"Well, yeah, bugs are smart in their own way, but even considering the fact that bugs can be 'smart', this batch of energy's just extremely stupid," Magnus said, rather patiently.

"Oh."

Hadrian grunted. "So they purify it, get some sleep, and then we're done here, right?" he asked. "I don't really want to spend more time with this b-"

Mevia shot him the most warning look she'd ever given anyone. "Hadrian," she said simply, Jesse blinking between the two of them.

"-lue haired lady than I have to."

Mevia kicked him again.

Magnus hummed, scratching his cheek while Hadrian grumbled about 'bruising like an old apple'. "Yeah, as long as they can go purify it..."

"Yeah, okay... give me a minute..." Jesse blinked at the doors they were standing in front of it.

They weren't particularly ornate, just a set of solid wooden doors. There were iron bands that kept the planks making the door up solidly together. Kind of reminded them of an old castle door, actually, the handle a slightly rusted circle. "Is it in here?"

"The most of it, yeah. I've been letting it just go haywire on, like-" Magnus said a word that Jesse had never heard before, but it seemed to make sense, because Maya snorted and Gill broke down giggling, while Radar blinked before turning to grin aimlessly at the wall.

Hadrian shook his head, but he didn't seem too put out, so it couldn't have been a bad infection (right?). "You let it infect _food_?"

"Well, yeah, I wasn't gonna _eat_ it. I told you this batch was particularly stupid."

Jesse slipped through the doors to purify it.

"Slugger, yell if you need help," Hadrian called before they shut the door.

An order.

Casually stated, but an order nonetheless.

They didn't know how often he'd do this.

Jesse nodded at him, already halfway through the heavy door. It was _heavy_ \- it tugged them along when they tried to keep it open until it was very nearly shut. _"Alright..."_

The door slid shut.

Maya sighed and scrubbed at her eye after a few minutes of awkward silence, Radar polishing his glasses for the umpteenth time. "Can't believe Jesse won the Death Bowl..."

"Why? 'Cause they're tiny?" Axel asked casually, making himself comfortable leaning on the wall.

They had no idea how long it would take, or even if it would require extra components to get rid of it, but if it did, they were right there. At a safe distance, where the energy wouldn't corrupt them.

Maya shook her head. "Nah, not 'cause of that... it's mostly 'cause of that cold or whatever they're sick with."

"That's the second handkerchief I've given them for all the snot," Hadrian grumbled.

Mevia shot a sharp glare at him, lip curling in distaste.

Nobody really knew _why_ Mevia disliked him so much. Last time Maya and Gill had asked Isa about it she'd simply shrugged and replied, "Same reason why Milo and I got along so poorly at the start."

They'd tried to pester Milo about it, but he only shrugged and said that that was up to Isa to discuss, not him, and so they'd made absolutely no progress there, either.

"Oh, shut up, Hadrian. You can buy another one."

He shot her a disgruntled look at that. "I _liked_ those handkerchiefs."

"Ask for them back, then."

Hadrian fell quiet at that, apparently not having a response for that.

Either that, or he thought the whole conversation a waste of his time.

Actually, that might've been the reason for it.

"Oh yeah... I guess so." Axel hummed and sat down, muffling a small yawn as he stretched. "Y'know, usually these are kind of boring."

"What's that? I should smite you for that comment," Magnus said lazily, raising a fist and shaking it at Axel a little jokingly.

Axel grinned at him, crossing his arms, before sighing. "Most griefers just try to bully their way through the games, so it's gotten kinda boring. As much as explosions are cool, _only_ explosions _all_ the time isn't super exciting. Y'know?"

"So what you're saying is explosion, actually doing something, then more explosion?" Gill suggested.

Axel grinned at him. "Yeah. Take a break from all the explosions now and again."

"If you say the word 'explosion' again I'm going to leave," Hadrian grumbled.

Mevia turned mockingly wide eyes onto him. "Oh no! You, leaving? That sounds absolutely _dreadful_ ," she said, putting one hand to her mouth, which was forming a perfect 'O' in mock-shock.

"Oh, shut the hell up, Mevia," he grumbled.

(To his credit, in all of their arguments, he'd never called her 'woman' or anything to imply that her gender made her any less capable... even though he swore at her every other minute.)

Magnus shook his head at their bickering and ignored it. "Yeah. Kinda why I changed up the Death Bowl format... well, Tiny did well enough for it."

"Did you choose the challenges on purpose? So they'd win and not some rando?" Gill asked.

Maya rolled her eyes. "Probably not, 'cause Jesse told me I won the bet."

"You only won the bet 'cause you weren't optimistic. Lukas would be disappointed in you."

"Fuck you, too."

And there they went on yet another argument.

"Hell no, I didn't even know you were going to have them participate until I had to announce them," Magnus grumbled in response to Gill's question, scratching his mask.

Nobody knew _exactly_ what that part of his face looked like under the 'bandit' mask, or why he wore it. Some said he had scars, severe scars, from the times that Cosmos had been in constant war, so much so that he was horrifically disfigured. Others said he had to wear it to cover a mark of shame he'd been given.

And some said that he just wore a bandit mask for the hell of it, and would you let a man have his fun?

There was abruptly a burst of light through the cracks under the door, pouring through so brightly it left clear little seams of light along the walls and made Axel wince and cover his eyes.

Jesse toddled out of the room a moment after the light faded, blinking hard and muffling a yawn. "'S gone now..."

They proceeded to fall forward. Hadrian caught them before they could break their nose on the hard stone floor, immediately passing them to Gill. The taller half-demon took them, startled, adjusting Jesse so that they were curled against his chest.

"Alright, get them into bed so they can get some rest," Hadrian told Gill. "And they are getting a full twelve hours of sleep, got that? I need them to stop getting snot all over my handkerchiefs."

Gill nodded and glanced at Magnus. "Should we stick them in a spare room, or...?"

"Nah, they can sleep in mine," Axel said casually. "I've got a couch that they'll probably fit on in my room. Better to keep an eye on 'em- make sure nobody tries to attack the 'champion' after the whole Death Bowl thing."

"... is attacking the Death Bowl champion something that typically happens?" Mevia asked Magnus after a terrifyingly long pause, teeth gritted slightly while Gill handed Jesse to Axel and the two members of the October Children- Gill shooting jabs at Maya, who cussed in reply- heading off to Axel's room.

Radar glanced between Mevia, Hadrian, and Magnus, feeling the rising fury coming from Mevia in waves, before deciding he wanted nothing to do with this mess and scurrying off after the younger demons (half-demons, in Gill and Maya's case).

"Since it's usually me, yeah, I guess you could say it's kinda tradition at this point in a way," Magnus said casually.

Mevia's teeth were clenched so tightly together they squeaked. "You didn't think to mention this until _now_?"

"I didn't even know you were submitting Jesse as a contestant, how was I supposed to inform you when I was overseeing the damn Death Bowl the whole time?" Magnus grumbled.

Hadrian's strange penchant of being able to royally peeve Mevia off apparently came in handy, as he ended up having to piss her off in order to keep her from causing physical harm to Magnus at that statement.

* * *

 **A/N: Say 'thank you' Magnus; Hadrian just prevented your murder xD**

 **And that finishes up Boom Town! Hopefully Jesse can finally get some sleep. Next chapter...**

 **Responses to new reviews/questions!**

 **TheAmberShadow: To a point yes, but they also build the towers anyway. / I forgot that was an answer, but I guess so xD**

 **Happygoluckymegami: Almost there xD Poor Jesse**

 **That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**


End file.
